OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Tom Bush has decided against giving his stakes-winning mare Rahys' Appeal a vacation and instead will ship her back to Southern California to run in the Grade 1, $250,000 Santa Maria Handicap at Santa Anita on Feb. 10.

Rahys' Appeal last ran in the San Gorgonio at Santa Anita on Jan. 7, finishing second behind Citronnade in the Grade 2 turf stakes. When she returned home, Bush was considering giving her some time off on the farm before aiming at a spring campaign. The horse was doing so well, however, that Bush decided to keep her in training.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Rick Violette said he thought his High Finance should have beaten Kelly's Landing four weeks ago in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector Handicap. Violette will get to test that theory on Saturday when the pair hook up again in the $100,000 Deputy Minister Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The 6 1/2-furlong Grade 3 Deputy Minister drew a highly competitive field of five, rounded out by the explosively fast Keyed Entry, graded stakes winner Sir Greeley, and recent allowance winner Nar.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Nobiz Like Shobiz is widely regarded as the best 2-year-old who didn't run in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile. But that has done nothing to hinder his reputation. He is considered one of the leading contenders for the Kentucky Derby, and just might move to the top of the leader board on Saturday, when he makes his first start of the year in the Grade 3, $150,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Buffalo Man, who likely would have been the third choice in the Holy Bull Stakes to Nobiz Like Shobiz and Scat Daddy on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, was not entered in the race because he came down with a cough, trainer Cam Gambolati said Thursday morning.

Buffalo Man coughed once on Wednesday, then five more times on Thursday after a routine gallop, Gambolati said.

"We've got a small problem, but it could have been a big one if he had run," Gambolati said at his Gulfstream barn.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Awesome Gem made a meteoric rise from maiden winner in September to a Grade 2 stakes winner in January, and on Saturday he will be tested in the $300,000 Strub Stakes at Santa Anita.

Awesome Gem has won 3 of his last 4 starts, a streak that includes the Grade 2 San Fernando Breeders' Cup Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 13. While the Strub is also a Grade 2, the race is run over 1o1/8 miles, which will equal the longest race of Awesome Gem's seven-race career.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Liquidity finished a game second in the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity in December. It was the best race of his four-race career and will make Liquidity the favorite in Saturday's $100,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita, a race that has drawn several promising 3-year-olds trying to establish a presence in the division.

Liquidity, trained by Doug O'Neill for Paul Reddam, finished a neck behind Stormello in the Hollywood Futurity. Liquidity will be seeking his first stakes win in the Grade 3 Sham, which is run over 1 1/8 miles.

Wrenice has dominated the Texas Stallion Stakes series for her division since last year, and will attempt to take down a third win in the program on Feb. 17, when she starts in the $125,000 Two Altazano division - a mile race for 3-year-old fillies - at Sam Houston Race Park.

Wrenice won the 5 1/2-furlong division of the Stallion Stakes at Lone Star Park in July, and it was the start of a five-race win streak that ended Jan. 26 with her second-place finish in the $50,000 Genesis at Delta Downs.

Several roads are heavily traveled to the Kentucky Derby, but the one that meanders through Turfway Park can't honestly be counted among them.

Still, if there is a Turfway horse with viable credentials to eventually make it to the 133rd Derby, it is Joe Got Even, a colt who figures as the favorite when the track's first of three Derby preps, the $50,000 WEBN Stakes, is run at one mile Saturday in Florence, Ky.

Roaring Lion, who closed out his 2-year-old campaign by winning the Maryland Juvenile Championship, will go for his fourth straight victory when he makes his 3-year-old debut Saturday in the $90,000 Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park.

He's not, however, the fastest horse in the field of five, which will be racing one mile.

That distinction belongs to Saratoga Lulaby, a John Rigattieri-trained colt who finished second to Roaring Lion in a first-level allowance on Dec. 20.

ALBANY, Calif. - Vaderator, the lone member of the five-horse field making his stakes debut, will be the one the other four in the field - all stakes winners - will be trying to catch in the $50,000 Fairfax on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields.

The speedball Vaderator drew the rail. He is looking for his third victory in his past four starts. He comes off a 10-length defeat as runner-up to Smokey Stover, who just defeated Bordonaro and Proud Tower Too in the Sunshine Millions Sprint and may be the best sprinter in the country.