They're coming at local hotshot 3-year-old Disappearing Trick from both sides. The winner of the Riley Allison Futurity on Dec. 31, carries the main local hopes in Sunland Park's $100,000 Borderland Derby on Sunday, but from the East comes Doctor Decherd and from the West comes Plagiarist.

Ten 3-year-olds are entered in the 1 1/16-mile Borderland Derby, which serves as a key prep for the $600,000 WinStar Derby on April 1. Any horse who sweeps the Borderland, WinStar, and Kentucky derbies will receive a $500,000 bonus.

With three horses in the sequence paying more than $50, it wasn't hard to believe that there were no winners in Friday's pick six at Aqueduct. But coming up with those three horses plus two other double-digit winners was so tough that handicappers who were able to correctly pick three winners were rewarded with a $118 consolation payoff.

There were 92 pick-six tickets that correctly had three winners.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Few horse people stabled in Chicago this winter have a more durable connection to Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans than the trainer Greg Geier. As longtime Chicago trainer Gene Cilio's assistant, Geier spent 10 seasons at Fair Grounds, and it was long before then that Geier began wintering in New Orleans.

"If I had to guess, I'd say I've been there 20 years in a row," Geier said.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Business at the claim box has been constant this meet at Oaklawn Park, where 98 horses have been taken through the first 16 days of racing. The total cost of horses claimed has reached $1,584,500.

Business was swift Thursday, when nine horses were claimed for total receipts of $185,000. The highest-priced claim was $30,000, with two horses taken at that level, including Acajou by trainer Lynn Chleborad.

ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer John Anderson is eager for the stakes winner Two to Get Ready to make her comeback in Sunday's Golden Gate Fields feature, a $50,000 optional claimer for fillies and mares at six furlongs.

A 4-year-old filly, Two to Get Ready has not raced since capturing the Pio Pico at Fairplex last Sept. 16.

"She's working all right," Anderson said. "She's not as sharp as she was last year, but she hasn't been wound up a whole lot. She's feeling good, but I think she'll be a lot better after she gets a race under her belt."

Turfway Park is making plans to acknowledge one of its own.

Brass Hat, the 5-year-old gelding who will race next in the March 25 Dubai World Cup, will be honored between races next Saturday after breezing over the Polytrack surface at his home track in Florence, Ky.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Missy Can Do got an extra week's rest but also picked up an imposing rival in Tonight Rainbow as those two lead a field of eight in Sunday's $10,000 Grasmick Stakes at Fonner Park.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Lawyer Ron continues his trek toward the Kentucky Derby on Saturday in the $250,000 at Oaklawn Park, but what is supposed to be a time of hope has become tinged with sadness. James T. Hines Jr., who bred and owned Lawyer Ron, was found dead on Tuesday of an apparent accidental drowning.

Lawyer Ron will carry on in his colors as he races for Hines's estate in the Southwest, the first of two local preps for the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby. A win in the race and beyond would be a fitting tribute to Hines.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Last year, the $50,000 Mountain Valley Stakes launched the 3-year-old campaign of eventual Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex. This year, the six-furlong race represents a return to sprinting for one of the best young horses in the region, Premier Dance.

A five-time stakes winner, Premier Dance has made his last two starts around two turns. He won the $82,000 Eddy County at Zia Park on Nov. 25. In his last start, on Dec. 31, he was third in the $100,000 Diamond Jo at Evangeline Downs, a race in which he was favored over the winner, Lawyer Ron.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Mustanfar didn't win the 2005 Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Turf but probably should have. On Saturday, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin will give Mustanfar another opportunity to win the Grade 1 , which this year has been lengthened from 1 3/8 miles to 1 7/16 miles and changed from a handicap to a weight-for-age stakes.