Sweet Idea will be moving back to turf for the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, which drew a competitive field of nine. She has made three career starts on the grass, with her best showing a runner-up finish in the $60,000 Lone Star Oaks, when she was beaten a head by Aly's Vow.

Sweet Idea won the $75,000 Martanza on dirt in her first start of the Sam Houston meet Dec. 2, then came back and won the $25,000 Space City in her next start, Dec. 16. In her most recent outing, she was fourth in the $50,000 Sam Houston Distaff on Jan. 27.

The state's stallion roster has gotten a boost with the relocation of Grade 1 winner Vaudeville to Hidden Springs Ranch in Yarnell, Ariz., for the 2007 season.

A 16-year-old by Theatrical out of S'Nice, by Riverman, Vaudeville will stand for $1,500.

Mark Dyer and Jennifer Waitman purchased Vaudeville, the winner of Arlington's Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes in 1994, from Tommy Town Thoroughbreds, which had been standing him at Running Horse Farm in Albuquerque, N.M.

Song of Navarone may have earned his way into the $600,000 WinStar Derby, to be run at Sunland Park on March 18. The 3-year-old did the local set proud in last Saturday's Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita. The runner-up in the Riley Allison Futurity, he set the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Sham and then kept on doggedly when tackled first by Liquidity at the top of the lane and then by Ravel in midstretch.

Trainer Bret Calhoun signaled his intent to have a strong meet at Sam Houston Race Park back in November, when he went 4 for 4 with his starters on one of the first cards of the season. Since then, Calhoun has continued to win races at an above-average rate at the track to lead the current trainer standings by six wins over John Locke.

Calhoun has won 27 races from 86 starters this meet at Sam Houston, for a 31 percent win rate. He also has a division of horses at Fair Grounds, where he ranked fourth in the standings with 16 wins from 77 starters through Wednesday.

Fonner Park in Grand Island, Neb., opens its 54th season of racing Friday as the live racing season in Nebraska gets off to a chilly start with a 38-day day meet that runs through May 5.

The opening weekend forecast was calling for temperatures in the low to mid-20's. That was reflected in opening day entries that saw 53 horses entered for the eight-race card.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - A big weekend featuring northern California's top 3-year-old stakes and top sprint race heads the schedule for the Bay Meadows spring meet, which opens Feb. 14.

Nine stakes worth $750,000 will be contested during the 10-week meet.

The Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby, traditionally an important steppingstone on the Triple Crown trail, will be held Saturday, March 10. The 1 1/16-mile race carries a $200,000 purse.

On March 11, the Grade 3 Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint, a six-furlong, $100,000 race, will be run.

NEW ORLEANS - On the downhill side of a one-week suspension handed to him for careless riding, leading Fair Grounds jockey Joe Talamo is champing at the bit, ready to swing back into action when his suspension is lifted Friday. And Talamo said Wednesday morning that when the Fair Grounds meet ends, he plans to leave his home state of Louisiana and try his luck under the bright lights of the Keeneland meet in April.

ALBANY, Calif. - Three-year-old fillies are in the spotlight Friday at Golden Gate Fields, as well as Saturday, when the $100,000 California Oaks will be run.

On Friday, less-seasoned fillies will compete in a first-level allowance race at six furlongs. Seven were entered, including the entry of Mattie Camp and Forest Huntress for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

Four of the seven runners have recorded only maiden victories: Smokin Danielle, Mattie Camp, Event of Siam, and Princess Mary. Of the four, only Smokin Danielle won at the current meet.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The days of competing against elite company are long behind Evening Attire, but apparently his desire to compete is not. Thus the 9-year-old gelding, who won the 2002 Jockey Club Gold Cup, returns to the races Friday in an optional claiming race at Aqueduct.

ARCADIA, Calif. - There is a strong chance that trainer John Sadler will be spending the first weekend of May at Churchill Downs. It will be largely unfamiliar territory.

Known for his success with sprinters and turf horses in recent years, Sadler's stable is loaded with promising 3-year-olds, particularly fillies. It could all lead to starters in the Kentucky Oaks or Kentucky Derby on May 4 and 5, and new milestones for the 50-year-old trainer.