ARCADIA, Calif. -- Talk about fast starts. Santa Anita opened its 67th winter meeting Friday with a large, enthusiastic crowd, and 3-year-old sprinters put on a sensational show in the Grade 1, $250,000 Malibu Stakes, with 13-1 shot Southern Image getting up in the last jump to beat 30-1 Marino Marini by a head.

It had been a year and five days since she last had raced, but there was no rust on Bedanken when she ran Friday in the $60,000 Furl Sail Handicap at Fair Grounds. Racing in midpack behind a wicked early pace, Bedanken ran resolutely down the center of the Fair Grounds grass course and scored a one-length victory over Flager.

Scary Bob held off a late charge by Tale of Woe to win Friday's $60,600 Maria's Mon Stakes by a neck before a crowd of 5,519 on the first day of racing after a four-day holiday break.

War's Prospect was third, 2 1/4 lengths behind Tale of Woe, in the six-horse field of 2-year-olds.

Ridden by Aaron Gryder, Scary Bob passed Quick Action and War's Prospect in the stretch, and looked like he was on his way to a comfortable margin of victory when Tale of Woe came flying with a strong outside move.

Quick Action, the pacesetter, tired to fourth.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Atswhatimtalknbout, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby earlier this year, is not expected to start at the Santa Anita meeting because of lingering foot problems, trainer Ron Ellis said.

The well-regarded but lightly raced Atswhatimtalknbout has battled an abscess and dead tissue in a front foot in recent months and is not in serious training.

"We're growing his foot out right now," Ellis said. "We can't train him until it grows out. It's just going slow."

NEW ORLEANS - The fog was so thick during the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile that the horses were scarcely visible. But at least they were out on the racetrack. Just one horse from the $100,000 Juvenile, Fuzzy Fund, runs back Sunday in the 2-year-old male division of the Louisiana Futurity, a six-furlong race offering a $40,000-added purse.

FLORENCE, Ky. - Trainer Bernie Flint is operating with his same large numbers this winter as in the past, and with the same strategy.

The results have also been similar to past Turfway meets. Flint is winning at rate of better than 23 percent at Turfway Park, and heading into the final days of the holiday meet, which concludes Dec. 31, he leads Dale Romans in the trainer standings.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Dr. Kathy's odds were 45-1 when she finished third against two good fillies, Ashado and La Reina, in the Grade 2 Demoiselle on Nov. 29. But in Sunday's $60,000-added Open Mind Stakes at Aqueduct, Dr. Kathy's odds will dip significantly.

Dr. Kathy is the likely favorite among eight 2-year-old fillies entered in the mile and 70-yard Open Mind. Fond was cross-entered in a Saturday allowance race.

MIAMI - Originally, jockey Jorge Chavez planned to forgo the 2004 Gulfstream Park meeting to ride the winter at Aqueduct. But it took one cold New York afternoon earlier this month for Chavez to quickly reconsider his itinerary - a decision that already appears to be a fruitful one.

Chavez, a former Eclipse Award winner, rode four winners on Monday's card at Calder and is building up plenty of momentum heading into the Gulfstream meet.

NEW ORLEANS - The eight horses in Sunday's $60,000 Sugar Bowl Handicap at Fair Grounds last raced at six different tracks, and their form is the same way - all over the place. The Sugar Bowl is hard to sort out, but not the way the race shapes up. Wildcat Shoes has a high turn of foot and the rail, while Next Bandit has been the first-call leader in five of his six starts. They're headed the same place - straight to the front.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If his feet aren't stinging him, Lord ofthe Thunder is the horse to beat in Sunday's $75,000-added Alex M. Robb Stakes at Aqueduct. If Lord ofthe Thunder isn't 100 percent, the last stakes run in New York in 2003 is up for grabs.

Lord ofthe Thunder, the 119-pound highweight, is among 13 New York-breds entered in the 1 1/16-mile Alex M. Robb. Arjay's Flag is an also-eligible.