NEW ORLEANS - We already know how fast he is. Bonapaw has won sprint stakes at seven different tracks, and he ruled the Fair Grounds sprint colony last year before going on to a Grade 1-winning summer. How far Bonapaw can carry his speed is the question Sunday, when he is part of a good field in the $125,000 Whirlaway Handicap.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Roar Emotion, who ended her 2-year-old season with a victory in the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes last November, took the first step toward her 3-year-old debut on Thursday by working three furlongs in 36.05 seconds over Belmont Park's training track.

Roar Emotion, a daughter of Roar owned by Joe Allen and trained by Jose Martin, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $100,000 Cicada Stakes on March 22 over Aqueduct's main track. Her long-term goal is the Kentucky Oaks on May 2.

Winter racing in Maryland isn't considered prime territory for producing a 3-year-old destined to make an impact on the Triple Crown trail. But it does happen.

Two years ago, for example, Talk Is Money defeated Marciano and Bay Eagle to win the $50,000 Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park. All three horses competed in the Triple Crown that spring.

Seven of the nine colts entered in Saturday's Miracle Wood are Triple Crown nominees and could use the 1 1/16-mile stakes as a stepping-stone to bigger and better things.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Saturday's 1 1/16-mile, $50,000-added Curribot Handicap drew only seven, any of whom could emerge the victor. With Premeditation going to Phoenix last week for the Turf Paradise Breeders' Cup, in which he finished off the board, the Curribot has come up wide open.

PHOENIX - Last week's Super Saturday program had three stakes races, and runners based in Southern California dominated the proceedings.

It could be more of the same this Saturday in the $50,000 Glendale Handicap, in which invader Secret Garden faces 10 fillies and mares. Secret Garden carries high weight of 121 pounds, conceding from three to 11 pounds to the opposition in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.

EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Eight of the best female horses in New England make Saturday's $35,000 Hannah Dustin Stakes at Suffolk Downs a wide-open race.

The group's collective form is remarkably strong. Three runners are coming off victories, and all but one of the rest of the field finished in-the-money last time.

Two veteran mares, Big Miss and Shiloh Lane, are from the barn of Don Caroli, and there's little between them in terms of ability.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Fonner Park will enter its 50th season of racing when it begins a 38-day meet Saturday. The track's showcase event, the $100,000 Bosselman-Gus Fonner Handi-cap, will be run on April 26.

Twelve-year-old Leaping Plum, one of the most popular sprinters ever to run at the five-eighth-mile track, is back and should see action in next week's Grasmick Handicap at four furlongs. Leaping Plum's streak of seven consecutive wins in the Grasmick, dating to 1995, was halted when he finished third last year.

ARCADIA, Calif. - So far, Empire Maker is just a lightly raced colt with a big reputation. By Friday evening, after he makes his 3-year-old debut in the $75,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita, he could be a top contender for the Kentucky Derby.

Trained by Bobby Frankel, Empire Maker makes his first start in California in the restricted Sham Stakes. Run over 1 1/8 miles, the Sham has drawn a field of seven and is restricted to nonwinners of a first-place purse of $50,000 at a mile or over.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Except for Mark Shuman, nobody has had a better first month at the 2003 Gulfstream meet than trainer Dale Romans. The two red-hot trainers will go head to head in Friday's featured eighth race when Romans sends out Dubai Sheikh against Shuman's My Good Trick in a $38,000 allowance race at six furlongs.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Powerful Touch, who finished just a head behind Offlee Wild in last month's Holy Bull Stakes, on Wednesday earned the dubious distinction of being one of the first significant 3-year-olds to drop out of this year's Kentucky Derby chase because of an injury.

Powerful Touch has been favoring his right front foot, and according to trainer Ken McPeek, X-rays showed something suspicious in the right leg's pastern. So, Powerful Touch has been taken out of training, and will be off for approximately two months before starting again.