FLORENCE, Ky. - When Pat Day, Gary Stevens, and Jerry Bailey retired in recent months, they were given the proverbial red-carpet treatment on the way out. For Hall of Fame jockeys with truly legendary accomplishments, such lavish send-offs were only to be expected.

Conversely, the retirement of Tony D'Amico came with no front-page headlines or press conferences. It did come, however, in a hospital bed, where D'Amico spent two weeks in November 2004 following the last of countless spills in his 30-year riding career.

Spring is arriving earlier than usual in Maryland, where Laurel Park will become the first track in the mid-Atlantic region to open its turf course.

Wednesday's card, drawn on Friday, includes the season's first turf race. The one-mile allowance drew 20 older horses, including six also-eligibles.

Usually, grass racing in Maryland begins the third week of April at Pimlico. But Laurel's new turf course, widened from 75 feet to 142 feet last summer, has sufficient drainage that the track's turf superintendent, Robbie Mitten, was able to get it in shape for racing in March.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Seven 3-year-olds will seek a second career win in Sunday's best race at Portland Meadows, a six-furlong race for $12,500 claimers.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Call Lewis Michael a poor man's Barbaro.

Barbaro, hailed last year as an especially brilliant young grass horse, made the jump to dirt this winter at Gulfstream, winning the Holy Bull Stakes in his main-track debut and in so doing marking himself as one of the top contenders for the Florida Derby. Lewis Michael will make the same surface switch April 8 in the $500,000 Illinois Derby, his connections said Friday.

TORONTO - July will be the hottest month at the 2006 Fort Erie meeting, with all five of the racetrack's stakes races being run within a three-week span that month. In addition to those stakes, the meet will host 19 "Cup" races restricted to horses that make a specified number of starts at the meeting.

As always, the showpiece of the 104-day meeting will be the $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, the 1 3/16-mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds that is the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. The Prince of Wales will be run on July 16.

ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Brian Koriner could be the key to Sunday's early daily double at Golden Gate Fields.

Koriner is having a solid year and unveils a nice 3-year-old maiden colt, Northern Soldier, in the day's opener, along with a good female sprinter, Bubbles Again, in the second race.

Both races are competitive heats, and both of Koriner's runners might offer a bit of value even though they appear to be contenders.

Koriner is good at bringing horses up to races. He shows a flat-bet profit of $2.54 for each of his debut runners going back to Jan. 1, 2005.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ernie Paragallo didn't have to take Achilles of Troy out of town to find the tougher competition he was seeking for his talented 3-year-old colt. With stakes winners Keyed Entry and Sweetnorthernsaint shipping into Aqueduct for Saturday's $200,000 , Achilles of Troy faces his sternest test to date as he seeks to remain a viable Kentucky Derby candidate.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Even for a guy who has won the Kentucky Derby three times, the butterflies never leave. Here it is seven weeks until the Derby, and already Bob Baffert is getting anxious.

"Every work, every race, you're on pins and needles from here on out," he said.

Baffert has good reason this year. He has several promising 3-year-olds, two of whom, Bob and John and Point Determined, are the leading contenders among nine colts entered in the Grade 2, $250,000 on Saturday at Santa Anita.

Chances are there will be a few surprises around the country with four Kentucky Derby preps on tap Saturday, but it's not likely any of those surprises will take place in Tampa, where Bluegrass Cat is an imposing figure compared with his eight rivals in the $250,000 Tampa Bay Derby. The Grade 3, 1 1/8-mile Tampa Bay Derby is the highlight of the meet's cornerstone event, Festival Day, and tops an outstanding 13-race program that includes three other stakes.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Lawyer Ron will have to tackle new shooter Private Vow and hold off the improving Steppenwolfer to win his fifth straight race Saturday in the Grade 3, $300,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

The three colts are the main players in the 1 1/16-mile prep for the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby. All are ranked on Daily Racing Form's Derby Watch.

is the one to beat in the Rebel based on his record, his recent form, and his success over the surface. He also is moving back to the distance at which he earned a career best Beyer Speed Figure of 106.