HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Some are calling it one of the most anticipated races in the 101-year history of Oaklawn Park.

The Grade 3, $250,000 on Saturday will be the first meeting of Afleet Alex and Rockport Harbor, two of the nation's top-ranked 3-year-olds, and Greater Good, who is one of the most accomplished, with three two-turn stakes victories. But the trio are not coming into the race with similar-looking past performance lines. Rather, they are coming into it from very diverse paths, something that has added another level of intrigue to the Rebel.

NEW ORLEANS - Hunch bettors and lovers of superstitions will be lining up to bet Skip Irish in Thursday's seventh race at Fair Grounds, a $17,000 starter allowance for 4-year-olds and up at 7 1/2 furlongs on the grass.

has already won four races at Fair Grounds in 2005, all $10,000 starter allowance races. The first three were on the turf, the last an off-the-turf dirt race.

"He's an honest, consistent horse," said trainer Steve Asmussen.

NEW ORLEANS - Churchill Downs Inc. rolled the dice at the beginning of the Fair Grounds meet by shuffling the stakes schedule to set up big race days, adding what used to be two of the meet's biggest stand-alone stakes, the Fair Grounds Oaks and the New Orleans Handicap, to Louisiana Derby Day. Linked with the Marie Krantz Memorial Handicap, the four stakes' purses totaled $1.5 million, making Saturday the richest day in Louisiana horse racing history.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Claiming a horse off a 15-month layoff from a Hall of Fame trainer seems a risky proposition. Trainer John Zimmerman is hoping that risk will begin paying dividends on Thursday when he sends out This Fleet Is Due along with entrymate Granite Head in an optional claiming race going one mile at Gulfstream Park.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Rick Violette scratched Dearest Mon from the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes rather than break from post position 9, opting instead to run in an allowance race.

Breaking from an outside post at Gulfstream Park, even in only an eight-horse field, is probably what led to High Fly's lone career loss, a third-place finish as the 3-5 favorite in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes, most observers believe.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Having recovered from a minor injury that turned into a 15-month layoff, Blind Ambition returns Thursday at Santa Anita as the horse to beat in the $125,000 Irish O'Brien Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares.

The 6 1/2-furlong turf stakes attracted a field of 12, including minor stakes winners Tucked Away, Market Garden, Scrofa, and Our Mango. Half the field is returning from a layoff, but none has been away as long as Blind Ambition, one mare players can never bet enough.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Tarlow has emerged as the new queen of California's older female division, but plans for a spring campaign will not be made until her stablemate Giacomo runs Saturday in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes for 3-year-olds.

A front-running win in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap established Tarlow as the top filly or mare in the West, and trainer John Shirreffs said her next start could be in the Grade 2 Louisville Breeders' Cup Handicap on May 6, Kentucky Oaks Day, at Churchill Downs.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - You could have gotten pretty good odds around Art Sherman's barn that Jewels of Bagdad would not win her first two races. But she did, by a combined total of 10 1/2 lengths.

will be gunning for a hat trick in Thursday's Bay Meadows feature, a first-level allowance race at six furlongs.

"We're surprised," Sherman's son, Allen, said of Jewel of Bagdad's success. "She wakes up in the afternoon. She's not that aggressive in the morning, although she showed me enough that I thought she might be decent.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - In addition to St. Patrick's Day festivities, local horseplayers have another big reason to celebrate Thursday. It is scheduled to be the last day of racing on the inner track.

And yes, we really mean it this time.

"Scheduled" is the operative word, because weeks ago the original start date of March 9 was pushed back a week, and when the main track was still covered in snow and slush last week, the New York Racing Association announced that the inner track would be pressed into service for two more days.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - With Afleet Alex, Rockport Harbor, and Greater Good all expected to start on Saturday in the Grade 3, $250,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, the race had only five probables as of Monday.

Along with the top three colts, officials expected the Rebel field to include Baston Challenge, an entry-level allowance winner in his last start for trainer Pete Vestal; and Jazzy Gallop, who has won his last two starts for trainer Steve Asmussen.