NEW ORLEANS - With Fat Tuesday over, the tourists begin leaving New Orleans in droves. Now, the horses are coming.

Top older horses from both coasts and Oaklawn Park are due to arrive at Fair Grounds this week. Their goal: Sunday's $500,000 New Orleans Handicap.

A win in the 2003 New Orleans Handicap pushed Mineshaft onto the national stage, and 11 months later Mineshaft was named Horse of the Year, but this year's edition of the race may be the strongest ever. As of Tuesday, nine horses were considered likely starters, and the prospective field looks spectacular.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Brilliant at 2, a bust at 3, begins writing the next chapter of her star-crossed career Thursday when she makes her 4-year-old debut in a $46,000 classified allowance race at Gulfstream Park.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - With sprint influences on both sides of his pedigree, , who has won his three career starts by a combined 27 3/4 lengths, still has questions to answer about his distance abilities. But that's a concern for later. He is in every way the horse to beat Saturday in the $100,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

The Southwest, a one-mile race, is the first of three route stakes for 3-year-olds at Oaklawn. The others are the $200,000 Rebel, at 1 1/16 miles March 20, and the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby, at 1 1/8 miles April 10.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Can another European grass horse win the Santa Anita Derby? Euro-import The Deputy won it in 2000, and now the Irish-bred Castledale will attempt the feat this year. Castledale won his U.S. debut for trainer Jeff Mullins on Nov. 29 in the Grade 3 Generous Stakes at Hollywood Park, but has never raced on dirt. "He's never run on it, but he's working like a monster on it," Mullins said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The weather forecast Thursday at Santa Anita calls for continued rain, yet little has dampened the winter-meet claiming enthusiasm of owner Michael Gill. Gill set up a California division late last year, and this winter at Santa Anita, trainer Nick Canani and he have claimed dozens of horses and won a handful of races.

ALBANY, Calif. - Perhaps trainer Greg Gilchrist forgot that sage piece of advice: be careful what you wish for, because it might come true.

Gilchrist's undefeated Irish Ides returns to the races at Golden Gate Fields on Thursday in a $50,000 optional claimer at six furlongs.

Irish Ides won her debut in a $25,000 maiden claimer at Pleasanton last summer and followed up with a victory in the Solano County Juvenile Fillies Stakes.

NEW ORLEANS - Majestic Thief won a head bob and the first stakes race of his career, taking the $50,000 Mardi Gras Handicap by a nose on a wet, foggy Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans on Tuesday.

The one-mile Mardi Gras was moved from turf to dirt, and six of the 12 horses entered were scratched. Not Majestic Thief, who now has won over fast dirt, mud, and turf.

"He runs either way, he always has," said his trainer, Walter Bindner.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The magic number on Thursday is 9, which is the number of racing days left on the inner track.

"I usually have a real bad attitude with the inner track," said trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., even though he has more than twice as many meet wins (41) as his closest pursuer. "If you don't get things your way, you're going to lose ground and you're going to get beat."

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - There is no shortage of speed in Thursday's ninth race at Oaklawn Park, which makes Comeawaywithme, a filly who can stalk and pounce, appealing. She will take on seven others in the six-furlong allowance, which is restricted to 3-year-old fillies who have never won two races. The purse is $32,000.

Others in the field include Brigette's Dream, a maiden winner at Churchill Downs, and Golden Aura, who exits a race that produced the winner of Sunday's feature race here, Tee's Pearl.

ARCADIA, Calif. - It cost approximately $300 to ship Southern Image on a round-trip journey from Santa Anita to Hollywood Park for a seven-furlong workout on Saturday morning.

The vanning fees could turn out to be a wise investment by Southern Image's connections if the 4-year-old pulls an upset in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 6.

With the Santa Anita track closed for workouts on Saturday morning because of rain, trainer Mike Machowsky opted to ship across town after speaking with Hollywood Park's track superintendent, Dennis Moore.