Muir Beach returned to dirt and the top of the local fillies and mares division at Turf Paradise when she won last Saturday's $40,000 Cactus Flower Handicap - but it sure wasn't easy.

The 5-year-old Muir Beach needed to call on all her courage to reel in a stubborn Katy Smiles in the final yards of the six-furlong race.

"She was all guts today," said Joel Campbell, who rode Muir Beach. "This is her best distance and her best surface."

Trained by Dan McFarlane for Phoenix-based owner Dennis Weir, Muir Beach covered the distance in 1:08.72.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The objective for Silver Train since his victory in last October's Breeders' Cup Sprint has always been next month's Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

It has become quite clear that is a different racehorse at Belmont than he is anywhere else. That's why handicappers may want to tread lightly in Thursday's third race when Silver Train preps for the Met Mile by running in a six-furlong classified allowance race at Aqueduct.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Even the most experienced of racing fans might never have seen a maiden who twice has finished first.

Dale Romans hasn't just seen one - he has trained two.

"I had a horse about 10 years ago, named Battle of Midway, I think," recalled Romans. "Got him from my father-in-law," trainer William Fox Sr., for whom the horse had been disqualified from an apparent victory for an ontrack foul, then from another apparent victory because of a positive post-race test.

"I finally got his maiden broke the third time," said Romans.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Eighteen unbeaten horses have raced in the Kentucky Derby, and only twice have two unbeaten horses shared the same starting gate. Those Derby rarities occurred in 1963, with Candy Spots (who finished third) and Never Bend (fifth), and in 2000, with China Visit (sixth) and Trippi (11th).

Live racing returns to Pimlico for an eight-week spring meeting on Thursday, with fewer racing days but bigger purses and a break for exotic bettors on a budget.

Purses have been boosted for 13 of the meet's 27 stakes and all overnight races on the main track.

In addition, Maryland will introduce 25-cent pick-six wagering at the meet, with a guaranteed net payoff of $5,000.

ALBANY, Calif. - The curtain for Lost in the Fog, Act 2, opens Saturday in the $100,000 Golden Gate Fields Sprint. The race will be the first for Lost in the Fog since he finished seventh in the Breeders' Cup Sprint last Oct. 29 at Belmont, the only loss of his career.

Owner Harry Aleo, trainer Greg Gilchrist, and jockey Russell Baze can't wait. Neither, it seems, can Lost in the Fog, who has not missed a beat in preparation for his defense of his 2005 Eclipse Award as the champion sprinter.

ALBANY, Calif. - One of the hardest situations to read for handicappers involves a horse that has shown marked improvement in his previous race.

Was it a fluke or does it portend even better things to come?

Golden Gate Fields handicappers face that tricky situation in Thursday's feature.

earned a career-best 70 Beyer Speed Figure when she won her maiden for a $28,000 claiming tag at Santa Anita on April 5. It surpassed her previous best by 27 points.

Brisk business offtrack helped Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., achieve a 12 percent increase in average daily handle during its 53-date meet that closed Saturday. The track's average daily attendance dipped a bit, as Oaklawn lost what is traditionally its second-biggest weekend of the meet to a winter storm in February.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Their official workout times were identical, 59.20 seconds, but that was the only similarity between Bob and John and Point Determined on Tuesday at Santa Anita.

Under clear blue skies and warm weather, trainer Bob Baffert worked the Kentucky Derby candidates five furlongs after the 9 a.m. renovation break.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Mr. Wolverine was two days away from his stakes debut last summer, when all hell broke loose.

It was late July, and Mr. Wolverine was preparing to ship to Del Mar for the Oceanside Stakes on opening day. But when the van pulled up to his barn at Santa Anita, Mr. Wolverine tossed a fit. It was no big deal, until he kicked a hind leg through a window and got cast inside his stall.

"It was horrible," said trainer Jorge Gutierrez. "He got cut up, his leg blew up, and we spent three months battling infection."