ARCADIA, Calif. - Foxysox had a nondescript season in England last year, going winless in five starts. She has been a different filly at Santa Anita this year.

Racing for Warren Williamson and trainer Carla Gaines, Foxysox beat maidens in February and won her stakes debut in the China Doll Stakes on March 11.

Saturday at Santa Anita, Foxysox makes her graded stakes debut in the Grade 3, $100,000 Providencia Stakes at a mile on turf.

"We purchased her thinking that two turns would suit her," Gaines said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Five months after jockey Aaron Gryder returned to his native California, he cannot wait to leave town. But only for a key Saturday afternoon in May.

Gryder, 35, who previously rode primarily in New York, is hoping to ride the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6 aboard the promising Sacred Light, his mount in Saturday's $750,000 Santa Anita Derby.

CHICAGO - There are 3-year-old sprint stakes this weekend at Hawthorne, Keeneland, and Aqueduct, and apparently there are not quite enough 3-year-old sprinters to go around.

The six-furlong Lost Code, one of two undercard stakes Saturday on Illinois Derby Day, drew only six horses when entries were taken on Tuesday. The purse is $100,000, the timing is good for more important sprint races in the coming weeks, but horsemen from all over responded with a collective shrug.

Round Pond was not entered in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park because multiple cuts in her mouth have not healed, her trainer, John Servis, said Thursday.

Round Pond would have been the probable favorite in the Apple Blossom, which has been her meet objective. She has won both of her starts at Oaklawn this year, including the Grade 3 Azeri Breeders' Cup in a thriller over Happy Ticket.

"It's a nice race to run in, and it's a prestigious race, and we really wanted to be in it," said Servis. "But if they're not right, you can't run them."

Despite an improbable victory by Breeze On ($43.40) in the last race, the pick six at Aqueduct was hit Thursday. There were four winning tickets, each returning $182,540. There were 207 consolation tickets (5 of 6) worth $842.

According to New York Racing Association officials, the winning tickets were purchased at Nassau OTB, Gulfstream Park, Laurel, and Churchill Downs.

There was a pick six carryover of $205,721 entering the day and another $932,454 was wagered into the pool on Thursday.

While many fans were sitting tight while waiting to see what unfolds Saturday in several crucial prep races, early betting in the opening hours of the third and final pool of the Kentucky Derby Future was understandably light. As of 5:15 p.m. Eastern, handle was just $20,074 in the Future Wager, which opened at noon Thursday at racetracks and wagering outlets throughout North America.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Too Much Bling returns to New York seemingly a different horse than the one that left here last fall. If he's able to duplicate his Southern California form at Aqueduct on Saturday, he should win the Grade 3, $150,000 Bay Shore Stakes.

Only four horses are scheduled to face Too Much Bling, with Songster looking like the most formidable foe.

PORTLAND, Ore. - All eyes will be on Crimson Design in Saturday's 39th renewal of the $25,000 Portland Meadows Mile.

The 5-year-old Crimson Design will go to the post as the 123-pound highweight and certain favorite on the strength of a record that includes 4 wins from 6 starts at Portland Meadows. He also won the Auburn Stakes at Emerald Downs as a 3-year-old, finished third to Demon Warlock and My Friend Dave in last year's edition of the Mile, and is coming off a half-length victory in the six-furlong Governor's Speed Handicap, the prime local prep for the Mile.

The Grade 2 Super Derby will return to a 1 1/8-mile distance this year after being run at 1 1/4 miles last year for the first time since 2001. Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., announced the change to its marquee race on Thursday, when it also released its stakes schedule for the upcoming meet, which opens May 5.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - D. Wayne Lukas speaks glowingly about the men and women he has mentored in the art of training racehorses. The list of former Lukas assistants who have become successful trainers gets longer every year, and one of them, Todd Pletcher, has been threatening in recent years to out-Lukas the man himself with his astounding training feats.