ARCADIA, Calif. - The first two legs of the Strub Series for 4-year-olds were a disaster for Arson Squad. He was wiped out at the start of the seven-furlong Malibu on Dec. 26, got the wind knocked out of him, lost position, and finished eighth.

"He's lucky he survived," trainer Bruce Headley said.

The 1 1/16-mile San Fernando was only slightly better. Switching to Garrett Gomez, Arson Squad was shuffled off the pace, and rallied to fourth.

"It was a learning experience for Gomez to get to know my horses," Headley said. "They don't pull."

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Ten years after campaigning the best horse he's ever owned, John Murphy may finally have found his next best one. And while Formal Gold took Murphy on a worldwide journey in 1997, one of Formal Gold's sons, Adore the Gold, could possibly take Murphy somewhere he's never been before - Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Street Sense has been pretty much out of sight and out of mind since unleashing that devastating stretch run in winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile nearly four months ago. But the way he worked five furlongs at Palm Meadows training center on Tuesday, he should not be forgotten.

On the surface, Street Sense's time of 1:00.21 may not appear all that special. It was the manner in which the son of Street Cry did it that so impressed the handful of onlookers, including his trainer, Carl Nafzger.

CHICAGO - Really, it shouldn't come as heart-stopping news: If you conduct winter horse racing in Chicago, winter might have something to say about how things develop. Hawthorne lost the last third of the third day of its winter-spring meet on Sunday, when snow, ice, and extremely wet conditions forced the halt of racing.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - High Heels, who is considered one of the top 3-year-old fillies at Oaklawn, worked six furlongs here Tuesday in preparation for the $100,000 Honeybee Stakes here March 16. The race is a prep for the Grade 2, $250,000 Fantasy on April 6.

In her last start Feb. 10, High Heels finished fifth in the Grade 3 Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds. Prior to that race, she was an eight-length allowance winner at Oaklawn on Jan. 21.

It wasn't just the fact that Corrupt won the Mardi Gras Stakes on Monday at Fair Grounds by two lengths, running his career record to 3-3. It was the fact that about 300 yards from the finish, second-last in an eight-horse field and apparently running in place, Corrupt appeared to have little chance to win.

"I thought he was a beat horse," said trainer Jeff Trosclair.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer won Saturday's Foster City with Somethinaboutlaura, and he may have another special runner in the 3-year-old filly Dixie Crisp, who wired a good maiden field by 6 1/2 lengths in her debut on Presidents Day. She was purchased privately last summer by Hollendorfer after she had sold for $250,000 last May in a juvenile sale.

"She's going to be nice," said Russell Baze, who rode Dixie Crisp, a daughter of Dixieland Band out of the Capote mare Two Step Trudy.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - "The bounce guys should have a field day," trainer Jimmy Jerkens quipped when he confirmed that he planned to bring his rambunctious but extremely talented Corinthian back on 23 days' rest off a career-best performance in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap.

Corinthian earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 106 for his 9 1/2-length victory over Jazil in a second-level allowance race on Feb. 8. It was his first start since closing out his injury-plagued 3-year-old campaign at Saratoga in July.

Trainer Chris Block turned over Corrupt, the unbeaten 3-year-old colt bred and owned by Block's family, to Fair Grounds-based trainer Jeff Trosclair for the winter, but that didn't stop Block from fretting about Corrupt's start in Monday's Mardi Gras Stakes. Corrupt was ready to run, Block said, but he wondered if the seven-furlong Mardi Gras was too short for this bulky, powerful colt. It was - and it didn't matter.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Brother Derek, the winner of the 2006 Santa Anita Derby, will miss Saturday's $1 million Santa Anita Handicap to undergo surgery to have a bone chip removed from an ankle, trainer Dan Hendricks said on Sunday.

Brother Derek has "lived with" a bone chip for most of his career, Hendricks said. The trainer said the bone chip was not a problem until recently.

"It's time to take it out," Hendricks said. "It's been in there since his second or third race. It never irritated him but it's moved a little bit. We had hoped to make the handicap first."