ARCADIA, Calif. - In a reflection of the wide-open nature of Saturday's $150,000 San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita, only one of the seven entrants has more than one victory.

The race, for 3-year-olds, may lack a standout, but it will determine whether some in the field deserve to start in further preps for the Santa Anita Derby in April.

"They're 3-year-olds, and people want to see where they fit in the picture," said trainer David Hofmans, who starts the maiden winner Silent Soul. "If you don't start now, you'll never know."

NEW ORLEANS - The Block family, among the leading owners in Illinois, has a formidable entry handled by two different trainers for Saturday's turf route for older horses at Fair Grounds, the Colonel E.R. Bradley Handicap. Jeff Trosclair trains multiple graded stakes winner Fort Prado and Richard Scherer saddles the resurgent Mystery Giver, a hero of past Fair Grounds campaigns.

Though the day's main events are the Lecomte and Tiffany Lass, which are for 3-year-olds, the Bradley leads off an impressive trio of $100,000 stakes races on the undercard.

NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Larry Jones has ambitious plans this spring for his undefeated Hard Spun, who will make his 3-year-old debut in Saturday's $100,000 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds.

Jones, who is stabled at Oaklawn Park, had originally planned to compete in that track's 3-year-old stakes series, but could choose a different path if Hard Spun runs well in the Lecomte.

"You can get a little bit better graded earnings if you start out on this route," Jones said at Fair Grounds on Thursday. "But we're going to take it one race at a time."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who has not ridden since suffering a rib injury in a paddock accident on Nov. 26, will not return until February because of lingering problems from a knee operation conducted in December, according to his agent, Jim Pegram.

Pegram said doctors told the 44-year-old Valenzuela on Wednesday that he will need another month to recover from the knee surgery, which had not previously been disclosed.

"He had arthroscopic surgery on his knee and he's had some problems with that," Pegram said.

OLDSMAR Fla. - Imagine a 65-year-old man lining up against top track stars in their 20's and 30's in a 100-yard dash and having a better than even chance of beating them.

Racing fans will get a chance to see the equine equivalent of such a scenario Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs when Above the Wind, the ageless wonder from the barn of trainer Ronald Allen Sr., goes after his fourth Pelican Stakes win at the ripe old age of 10 . He will face 13 rivals in the $60,000 Pelican at six furlongs.

How does a guy get to be a 30 percent-winning trainer while running a high volume of horses? It takes a certain degree of relentlessness, a willingness to keep pushing past a point many people would be satisfied just reaching. Tom Amoss, for example, as of Thursday afternoon had a one-win lead atop the trainer standings at Fair Grounds, his stable's 17 victories from 57 starters good for a 30 percent strike rate. Yet there is not a lot of back-patting going on at Team Amoss, at least not at the top.

The undefeated Tensas Phone Call will get tested for class on Saturday night, when he meets established sprinters Cort's P.B. and Zarb's Dahar in the $50,000 Cypress at Delta Downs. The race is one of two stakes for Louisiana-breds on the card, and both should produce starters for the $1 million Louisiana Premier Night program of stakes here Feb. 3.

On paper, the top betting choices for the Tiffany Lass Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds look like Get Ready Bertie and Pro Pink. But at one mile, with a finish at the normal sixteenth pole, the race might be a touch too short for Get Ready Bertie, a little too far for Pro Pink. And if distance is an issue for either, the alternatives are many, with 10 others entered in this $100,000 stakes, a prep for the Silverbulletday, itself a prep for the Fair Grounds Oaks.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Mike Hushion has always wanted to try Great Intentions around two turns, but never found what he felt was the appropriate spot. Until now.

Hushion and owner Barry Schwartz supplemented Great Intentions to Saturday's $65,000 Affectionately Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile race over Aqueduct's inner track, and the multiple Grade 2-winning sprinter could be the main speed.

In 50 years on the racetrack, Michael Trivigno has enjoyed the occasional 15 minutes of fame. By running Golden Voice on Saturday in the $50,000 Wishing Well Stakes, Trivigno will be trying to get a welcome few moments in the spotlight at Turfway Park.

Golden Voice, a winner in three of her last four starts, is part of a full field of fillies and mares entered in the six-furlong Wishing Well, the featured 11th of 12 races at the Florence, Ky., track.