HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Envoutante on Wednesday was traveling to Oaklawn Park for an intended start in the track’s Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri Stakes on March 13, trainer Ken McPeek said. The start will be Envoutante’s first since her six-length victory in the Grade 2 Falls City in November at Churchill Downs.

McPeek also has nominated champion Swiss Skydiver for the Azeri and said she remains under consideration for the 1 1/16-mile race as well as the Grade 1, $300,000 Beholder Mile the same day at Santa Anita.

“We’re not ruling out the Azeri,” McPeek said Wednesday.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – At least five out-of-town jockeys are expected in action here Saturday, including Junior Alvarado, who has a return call on Candy Man Rocket for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Alvarado will travel across the Florida peninsula from Gulfstream Park, as will Luis Saez (Promise Keeper), Julien Leparoux (Unbridled Honor), and Angel Arroyo (Boca Boy).

OLDSMAR, Fla. – A busy weekend of Kentucky Derby prep races is liable to uncover a surprise or two. Vicki Oliver hereby volunteers to provide the surprise with Big Blue Nation.

Oliver is the trainer of Hidden Stash, one of the live contenders Saturday in the Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs. A late-closing third in the Sam F. Davis here Feb. 6 after winning back-to-back races in Kentucky to end his 2-year-old season, Hidden Stash stands to improve enough to enter the Derby discussion with a big finish in the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby.

Or so Oliver is hoping.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Dale Romans reported Wednesday that he plans to send Mr Freeze to Dubai for the $750,000 Godolphin Mile on March 27. Romans had originally been pointing Mr Freeze for the Razorback at Oaklawn Park, but altered his schedule after that race was postponed two weeks due to poor weather.

Mr Freeze has not started since finishing 11th going a mile and one-eighth in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational here on Jan. 23. His two graded stakes wins in 2020 included the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile.

Indiana Grand was granted permission to switch a day on its 2021 racing calendar on Tuesday during a meeting of the Indiana Horse Racing Commission, but more important news related to changes that will affect bettors.

Alexander Crispin, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice rider for 2020, has been suspended for 30 days and fined $1,000 after he rode a horse with the wrong weight, Maryland racing officials confirmed on Monday.

Crispin, who rides at 108 pounds, according to the Laurel Park condition book, was issued the suspension at least a month after stewards disqualified Alpha Queue from a third-place finish in a Jan. 16 race at Laurel. The chart notes the horse “carried wrong weight” in a footnote. The suspension started on Monday.

After Just Might popped a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure airing in the off-turf Colonel Power Stakes on Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds, trainer Michelle Lovell toyed with keeping the gelding in dirt races this spring. But since Fair Grounds has an open turf-sprint allowance race for older horses set for March 13, Just Might will be pointed to that race as a prep toward the Shakertown Stakes, an April turf sprint at Keeneland.

Mystic Guide’s romping victory Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn definitely was the high point of the week for trainer Mike Stidham’s stable, but Friday morning at Fair Grounds yielded an encouraging result, too.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., will allow customers to enter drawings to purchase a limited number of tickets during its upcoming spring meet beginning on March 8 at its website, the track announced on Monday.

The drawings will enable winning customers to buy tables reserved for six in either the track’s Lexington/Kentucky room or Phoenix room, both on the fourth floor of the grandstand. Customers will also be able to buy up to six reserved seats in the grandstand.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Fearless, a 5-year-old who scored a breakthrough victory in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Mile here Saturday, could make his next start in the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap on April 17, although that’s not yet written in stone, said Elliott Walden, president of WinStar Farm. WinStar owns Fearless with China Horse Club.