Be a Bono, the 2004 Quarter Horse world champion, should resume training in March and will be pointed to the trials to the Grade 1 Vessels Maturity on June 2 at Los Alamitos, according to owner Spencer Childers.

Be a Bono won the 2005 Vessels Maturity and the Grade 1 Spencer Childers California Breeders Championship, a stakes named after his owner, in 2004 and 2005.

"We did surgery on him and he had some cartilage damage in his knee," said Childers. "They actually extracted some of his stem cells and injected them where the damaged cartilage was."

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Round Pond figures to be a major player in the older filly and mare division this year. On Thursday at Oaklawn Park she will make her first start in six months, in a six-furlong optional claiming race that will serve as her springboard to the Grade 3, $175,000 Azeri Breeders' Cup here March 11.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Rockport Harbor's focused win in the Grade 3, $100,000 last Saturday was the perfect building block for a 4-year-old campaign in which he could establish himself as one of the top older horses in the country. The race was his first start in nine months, and he set the pace over a laboring track, withstood a stretch challenge, and pulled clear. For his effort, Rockport Harbor earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 98.

"That race will move him forward big time," said John Servis, who trains Rockport Harbor. "That race will be like the Southwest was for Smarty."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Someday, a Santa Anita turf race will be won by the pacesetter. But over the past month, the only thing as predictable as the California weather has been the constant surrender of grass-course front-runners.

Heading into a new racing week, a month had passed since a Santa Anita two-turn grass race had been won by the pacesetter. Since front-runner Early Ronan won on Jan. 16, 28 grass routes were won, all from behind. One turf route was scheduled Wednesday, and if the bias continues, it will play into the strength of the best horse in Thursday's race-7 feature.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - As is so often the case in turf races during the heart of the Gulfstream Park meeting, there will be no shortage of live contenders when a full field of 12 older horses compete in Thursday's $35,000 main event. The 1 1/16-mile race is for two-other-than allowance horses or for those who have not won three races.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Marenostrum, winner of a first-condition allowance in his Jan. 7 comeback, will attempt an unlikely class leap March 4, when he runs in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap.

A 1 1/4-mile race, the Big Cap "is not coming up all that tough," said Bobby Frankel, who trains Marenostrum. Frankel also trains High Limit, who won the Strub on Feb. 4 and is the early favorite for the Big Cap, but otherwise the field is modest. Why not take a shot?

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The racetrack saying "study long, study wrong" will be put to the test Thursday at Aqueduct. The card was originally scheduled for last Sunday but postponed because of the Blizzard of 2006, so past performances have been available to handicappers for nearly a week.

ALBANY, Calif. - Three stakes winners - an import coming off a 14 3/4-length victory, a nine-length winner with a Beyer Speed Figure of 104, and one of the top 3-year-old prospects in northern California - will meet in the $40,000 Tiburon overnight stakes on Thursday at Bay Meadows.

"I was surprised how tough it came up," said trainer Billy Morey, whose Press Camp, coming off a sizzling 104 Beyer Figure effort, is one of the reasons the race is so tough.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The name has likely been in the Stable Mail files of many a trip handicapper who witnessed the filly's eventful 2006 debut at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 27. They all will have the opportunity to cash in when Classy Charm runs in Wednesday's $37,000 feature, an optional claiming race for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles.

ARCADIA, Calif. - is the Queen of the Hill. She has made four sprint starts on Santa Anita's unique downhill turf course and has won all four of them. Bode Miller aspires to be as proficient a downhill racer.

On Wednesday at Santa Anita, Cambiocorsa will make her drive for five. She is seeking her fifth victory on the 6 1/2-furlong course, and third at this meet, in the featured seventh race, a third-level allowance that drew 10 older fillies and mares.