ARCADIA, Calif. - Vronsky went to the sidelines last year in the midst of a four-race losing streak and an inclination to misbehave during races.

Since his return in early January, is unbeaten in two starts on the hillside turf course. His current form makes him a contender in Friday's second race at Santa Anita, a $56,000 optional claimer over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.

For many of the seven runners, the race is a prep to the final hillside stakes of the meeting, the $100,000 San Simeon Handicap on closing day, April 18.

ALBANY, Calif. - Jockey Omar Figueroa will be sidelined four to six weeks with a fractured left collar bone after his mount B. Good Hero suffered a fatal breakdown in Wednesday's fifth race at Golden Gate Fields. Jockey Gary Baze suffered scrapes and bruises when thrown from his mount, Echoman, trying to avoid the accident near the quarter pole. Baze was able to continue riding.

NEW ORLEANS - Louie Roussel III, a former owner of the Fair Grounds, confirmed Wednesday that he had made a formal offer to buy the financially troubled racetrack. Roussel, reached by telephone in Florida, said he had made a $30 million offer.

Last week, a bid of $28.5 million from Churchill Downs Inc. - unconfirmed by CDI officials - was made public. Roussel, who sold Fair Grounds to the Krantz family in 1990, said 70 percent of his bid would be used to pay a Louisiana horsemen's group that Fair Grounds might owe millions of dollars.

Look out, Congaree.

Strong Hope prepped for a possible showdown with Congaree in next month's Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct with a jaw-dropping return to the races Wednesday at Gulfstream Park. With John Velazquez simply holding on, Strong Hope ($3.20) won a six-furlong classified allowance race by 9 3/4 lengths. His final time of 1:08.77 is believed to be the fastest six furlongs run at this meet.

PORTLAND, Ore. - More Heart, an impressive winner of his Portland Meadows debut just a week ago, will attempt to step up and repeat when he takes on six other older sprinters in Friday's 4 1/2 furlong feature for $4,000 claimers.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Redskin Warrior, a nominee to the Gotham Stakes, worked over Aqueduct's inner track on Wednesday. The work took place 55 minutes before the first race of the winter-spring meet was run on the main track.

Jennifer Pedersen, Redskin Warrior's trainer, said she worked the colt over the inner track because she believed the surface was drier than the main oval, which opened for training for the first time on Wednesday and was listed as muddy during training hours and for the first three races.

NEW ORLEANS - What's in a name? Perhaps the winner of the featured ninth race Friday at Fair Grounds.

In this case the name is Scherer, as in Richie, though for most of this long Fair Grounds meet, it has been Merrill Scherer setting racetrack tongues wagging. Merrill, Richie's father, got hot in December and has stayed hot since: Through Monday, he had won with 24 of 72 starters here, good for fourth in the trainer standings. Last season, the elder Scherer sent out 72 and won nine.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The last time Keys to the Heart went from turf to dirt, she won the biggest race of her career. That could happen again Saturday, when she makes the same surface switch for the Grade 3, $200,000 Oaklawn Breeders' Cup at Oaklawn Park.

Keys to the Heart comes into the Oaklawn BC, a 1 1/16- mile race for fillies and mares, on the heels of a three-quarter length win in an optional claimer on turf at Santa Anita on Feb. 12. She covered the one-mile distance in a sharp 1:35.38.

ALBANY, Calif. - Golden Gate Fields is preparing for a golden weekend with the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby on Saturday and Grade 3 Golden Gate Breeders' Cup Handicap on Sunday.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Bang turned in the top performance of this meet in last Saturday's $50,000 Bill Thomas Memorial Handicap, winning by seven lengths, shattering the track record for 6 1/2 furlongs, and earning a 103 Beyer Speed Figure. Not bad for a horse who started this season off in a $25,000 claiming race.

Bang has won four straight races here at Sunland and has established himself as the top sprinter in the region. His success can be attributed to the patience his trainer, Eric Kruljac, showed last season when Bang was 3.