HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - John Ward was in Kentucky when he heard that Harlan's Holiday, the 120-pound highweight and expected favorite for Saturday's $100,000 Hal's Hope Handicap, was not among the entries when the race was drawn at Gulfstream Park on Thursday. The turn of events leaves the Ward-trained Hero's Tribute as the horse to beat in the inaugural edition of the Grade 3 race.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Tizbud, because he is a full brother to Tiznow and Budroyale, has been under a microscope since before he ever ran. It took him three starts to get a maiden win. His connections are hoping it takes just one more start to get his first graded stakes win.

Tizbud is bypassing the allowance conditions for which he is eligible in order to head straight into the Strub Series, for the elite 4-year-olds at Santa Anita. He is among eight runners in a wide-open, $200,000 San Fernando Stakes, Saturday's 1 1/16-mile middle leg of the Strub Series.

ARCADIA, Calif. - When the clock struck midnight on Dec. 31, Neil Drysdale was all too happy to bid good riddance to 2002. A year that dawned with the promise of Bella Bellucci and Sunday Break unfolded with great disappointment for the Hall of Fame trainer. "Do you know anybody, other than Bobby Frankel, who had a good year last year?" Drysdale mused the other morning.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Stately Jack, Flash, and Yada Yada Yada, the second- and third-place finishers in the rich Oregon Futurity on Dec. 14, will clash for the third time in their brief careers in Saturday's six-furlong allowance feature at Portland Meadows.

Yada Yada Yada upset the heavily favored Stately Jack Flash in their first meeting, winning the six-furlong Bill Wineberg Stakes at 20-1 in his career debut. Yada Yada Yada then skipped the six-furlong Columbia River Handicap on

ARCADIA, Calif. - He has been doing the same thing for more than 70 years, since before Santa Anita opened. He has been at this track for every day of every meet, so it wasn't surprising that 92-year-old Noble Threewitt beat everyone to the barn again Thursday morning, the day after winning his first race of the season with Bitingly Cold.

It used to be a pick 'em proposition as to whether Threewitt or Charlie Whittingham would be the first trainer at the track each morning. Since Whittingham died, the bet is off the board.

ALBANY, Calif. - Always Remember took a step forward in last month's Gold Rush Stakes. Buddy Gil took a step back. Saturday's Golden Gate Derby should show where they are headed.

Going into the Gold Rush Stakes, a one-mile prep for Saturday's race, Buddy Gil was all the rage after graduating at a mile and coming back to win the six-furlong Golden Bear Stakes.

Always Remember was little more than an afterthought even though he had just won a $25,000 claimer at one mile.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - If owner Mike Gill and trainer Mark Shuman continue to claim horses at the incredible pace they have set during the first week of the Gulfstream Park meet, then Peter Walder says he and his fellow claiming trainers have little choice but to begin doing the same.

"If they want to keep running horses for less than they're worth, then I'll be right there to take them," said Walder, one of the more active claiming trainers at Gulfstream Park the last several years. "They're getting away with murder."

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Toccet, the 3-year-old who is widely regarded as one of the top candidates for the spring classics, is scheduled to arrive in south Florida early next week and will make his first start of the year in the Grade 1 Fountain of Youth Stakes Feb. 15 at Gulfstream, trainer John Scanlan said Thursday at Gulfstream Park.

Toccet, whose six victories from eight starts include wins in the Grade 1 Champagne and Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity, is in training at Laurel Park, where he "is doing fabulous," said Scanlan.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Conventional wisdom said the warm weather that enveloped the New York area Thursday would have been the last thing Aqueduct track superintendent Jerry Porcelli would have wanted for his winterized inner track.

Many believed the near 50-degree temperatures would only turn an already wet surface into chocolate pudding, perhaps forcing the cancellation of the card. But, Porcelli was all smiles Thursday morning.

NEW ORLEANS - Not only will Bonapaw's connections accept their horse's 123-pound weight assignment for Sunday's Colonel Power Handicap at Fair Grounds, they will accept it with glee.

Bonapaw's co-owner, Dennis Richard, confirmed Thursday that Bonapaw will start Sunday in the six-furlong Colonel Power, his first race since he finished fifth Nov. 30 in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile. Bonapaw will make this start less than two weeks after returning to his regular training regimen following a 30-day rest period.