HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Last Sunday, jockey Alfredo Clemente was in Hollywood Memorial Hospital after his mount, Finn to Win, hit the starting gate and unseated him in the final race of the day at Gulfstream Park. Four days later, Clemente was in the Gulfstream winner's circle after guiding Burdakin to victory at 24-1 in Thursday's third race.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Trainer Marv Johnson will try take a big bite out of the purse in Sunday's $30,000 Fonner Park Special Stakes for 3-year-old Nebraska-bred fillies when he sends out four of the nine starters in the six-furlong race.

Johnson will saddle Dress Right, Lovely Jewel, and Confident Consumer as part of a three-horse entry for owner Don Everett's Bluestem Farm, and also has Cerveza Lite as a separate wagering interest for owner Ed Rotherham.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Robert King Jr. had the world by the tail back in 1983 and 1984, when he won Sovereign Awards as Canada's outstanding rider and led the country in races won.

But when King returned to the jockeys' room at Woodbine this spring, it will have been more than nine years since he last rode in a horse race.

"It's not going to be easy; I know that going in," said King, who will turn 41 next month and has 1,095 career winners. "Especially starting in the spring, when everyone's hungry."

Sunday's six-furlong feature at Bay Meadows may be short on numbers - just five horses are entered - but it is long on quality. Any of the quintet is eligible to win the feature, a $33,000 allowance with a $50,000 claiming option, which goes as the second race on a nine-race card.

As usual, the money figures to roll toward jockey Russell Baze, aboard Peak a Bootrando.

AUBURN, Wash. - A Classic Life and Charming Colleen were clearly the two best juvenile fillies to race at Emerald Downs last year, but trainer Grant Forster intends to campaign A Classic Life in the Midwest this season, and Charming Colleen was sold for a reported $600,000 and moved to Southern California, where she has since run fifth, third, and fourth in three Grade 1 events.

There is consequently room at the top of this season's 3-year-old filly division, and the vacancy should be filled, at least temporarily, in Sunday's $40,000 U. S. Bank Stakes at six furlongs.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A total of 19 jockeys have signed on to ride at Hastings this year. While that doesn't sound like a large number, compared to the last couple of years it's a plethora of riders. The prospect of larger purses and more racing days apparently has made Hastings a much more attractive spot than it was in past years.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The has been widely proclaimed as the best race this year on the trail to the 131st Kentucky Derby.

And from a handicapping standpoint, it is also the most fascinating. The field appears to be very closely matched in ability and style, and the 1 1/8-mile race might very well hinge on what split-second decisions are made soon after the horses and jockeys break from the Keeneland starting gate Saturday at about 5:45 p.m. Eastern.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - On virtually any other day, the Commonwealth Breeders' Cup would stand out like dandelions on the Keeneland turf course. But Saturday happens to be the day of the deepest Kentucky Derby prep of the year, the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes - so the $400,000 Commonwealth doesn't grab the attention it deserves.

Yet the main contenders in the Grade 2 Commonwealth definitely are standouts. In the seven-horse field are three Grade 1 winners, most notably Cajun Beat, winner of the 2003 Breeders' Cup Sprint, and Lion Tamer, winner of the Cigar Mile last fall.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Seven post positions were drawn for the . Of those, the No. 7 that Bandini was assigned "would have been my seventh choice," said the colt's trainer, Todd Pletcher.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - He has won the Southwest Stakes, just like Smarty Jones one year ago. He has won the Rebel Stakes, just like Smarty Jones one year ago. And, unlike Smarty Jones, he already has a victory at Churchill Downs, the site of the Kentucky Derby.