LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kathleen O'Connell has earned a terrific reputation in her nearly 20 years as a Thoroughbred horse trainer. After starting out in Detroit, O'Connell has become a longtime fixture on the Florida circuit, where she has her 65-horse stable split between Calder and Tampa Bay Downs.

Every so often, O'Connell will ship a horse north to run in a major race. One such memorable occasion came during the 1996 fall meet at Keeneland, when O'Connell ran her budding star Blazing Sword in the Breeders' Futurity.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The career path that has taken trainer Jeff Mullins from his roots in Utah to the top of California racing looks like an Interstate road map of the West.

The 20-year journey began with two-horse chariot racing when he was a teenager in suburban Salt Lake City. It was a circuitous route, with stops in Idaho, where he had his first winner in July 1981, followed by winters in Arizona and summers in Wyoming, Idaho, and on the northern California fair circuit.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Larry Barrera is not lacking in confidence regarding Kela's chances in Saturday's $150,000 San Bernardino Handicap at Santa Anita.

Kela showed Barrera what he wanted to see in the Tokyo City Handicap on March 8, rallying from seventh and scoring a narrow win. A repeat would be good enough, Barrera insists.

"I don't think he has to improve," Barrera said. "If he runs the same race, I think the race is his. He's coming out of his skin."

Kela has shown erratic form in the last year, but has worked well since his recent win.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Across town from Santa Anita, trainers such as Neil Drysdale and Bobby Frankel train year-round at Hollywood Park, which at this time of year is a tranquil facility, without the daily maelstrom of hundreds of morning workouts and afternoon racing.

Delaware Park has banned Michael Gill and his horses from the track "effective immediately," Gill said on Thursday.

"I'm not allowed on the grounds or allowed to make an entry," Gill said, citing a letter he received from Delaware this week and that he provided to Daily Racing Form.

The letter cites a section of Delaware racing rules that allows a track, "solely of its own volition," to determine who has access to the grounds. The letter is signed by William Fasy, the track's chief operating officer.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Last April, trainer Christopher Paasch shipped Roman Dancer to New York from Southern California and he sprung a minor upset in the Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes.

Next Saturday, Paasch - who has moved his operation to Kentucky - will try to double his pleasure in the Big Apple when he sends Roman Dancer to Aqueduct for the Grade 1 Carter and Bossanova for the Grade 3 Bay Shore.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The seasons have changed, but the competition has gotten only marginally tougher in New York's handicap division.

That's why Snake Mountain will be heavily favored to win his sixth consecutive race - and fifth straight stakes - when he heads a six-horse field entered in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Excelsior Breeders' Cup Handicap at Aqueduct.

ARCADIA, Calif. - With only a four-pound spread in the weights among the eight fillies and mares in Saturday's $100,000 Las Cienegas Handicap at Santa Anita, a case can be made for all of the starters.

From Brocky's Dream, the 118-pound starting highweight, down to Icantgoforthat and Heat Haze at 114 pounds, bettors will find the Las Cienegas to be an intriguing betting race.

CHICAGO - Two words and one year should be sufficient reminders not to dismiss Saturday's Illinois Derby as an insignificant Kentucky Derby prep race.

The words are War and Emblem, and it was a year ago that War Emblem preceded his run through two-thirds of the Triple Crown with a decisive win in the Illinois Derby.

At the time of his Chicago breakout, War Emblem looked a lot like the 10 horses that were entered in this year's $500,000, Grade 2 Illinois Derby - long on promise and short on accomplishment.

EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Big Miss will try to capture the $35,000 First Episode Stakes for Massachusetts-bred fillies and mares for the second straight year Saturday at Suffolk Downs.

After winning in a strong allowance field in her last race on March 22, Big Miss is clearly still on top of her game at age 7. Previously, she finished second in her 2003 debut against open company in the Hannah Dustin Stakes and won the Isadorable.