Horses are animals, not machines, so they don't run the same race every time. Except for Daddy Cool, that is.

Since coming to Dickie Small's barn from Canada in the fall, the 5-year-old Daddy Cool has won three straight route races at Laurel Park, earning a 95 Beyer Speed Figure each time. Most recently, he cruised to a three-length, wire-to-wire victory despite stumbling at the start of the Walter Haight Handicap.

Daddy Cool will try to make it 4 for 4 in Maryland and stretch his overall winning streak to five races in Saturday's $75,000 Native Dancer at Laurel.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Though the three principle horses are the same, it would be a mistake to handicap Saturday's Grade 3 Affectionately Handicap based on what happened in last year's Grade 3 Next Move Handicap.

With Ability, Pocus Hocus, and Zonk finished first, fifth, and last, respectively, in the Next Move, run over Aqueduct's main track, and head a nine-horse field entered in the $100,000 Affectionately over Aqueduct's inner track. In the Next Move, With Ability was able to get loose on the lead and set a moderate pace en route to a 5 1/4-length win.

NEW ORLEANS - Zydeco Affair has raced eight times in his life, and already he has started at five different tracks. Track number six is Fair Grounds, where Zydeco Affair runs Saturday in the Black Gold Handicap.

He has landed in surprisingly deep water.

For 3-year-old turf horses at about 7 1/2 furlongs, the $75,000 Black Gold drew a field of eight with several promising young horses. There are no automatic throw-outs, and several first-time turf horses with proven dirt ability complicate the picture.

ALBANY, Calif. - Trainers D. Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert, the titans of the Triple Crown, begin on the trail to the first Saturday in May in the Grade 3, $100,000 Golden Gate Derby on Saturday at Golden Gate.

Lukas sends Ozzie Cat up north in search of his second victory in eight starts. Baffert will attempt to repeat Danthebluegrassman's Gold Rush Stakes-Golden Gate Derby double of last year with Spensive.

"This is where the trail to the Derby starts," Baffert said.

The 1 1/16-mile race drew 11 entrants with Ozzie Cat drawing post 5 and Spensive post 9.

Colonial Glitter, who won by over 10 lengths in the Bourbonette Breeders' Cup at Turfway last March, returns to the site of her biggest win on Saturday as the probable favorite in the $50,000 Wishing Well Stakes at six furlongs. Ten fillies and mares have been entered.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - A field of 12 older horses will contest the $50,000-added, one-mile Winsham Lad Handicap at Sunland Park, and the three logical choices all offer different angles for players to consider.

PHOENIX - If Saturday's $35,000 Sun Devil at Turf Paradise were a sprint, Hula Kat would surely be a prohibitive favorite.

But the Sun Devil is a mile, and four of the eight 3-year-old fillies entered will be trying the distance and two turns for the first time, including Hula Kat, who still figures to be a mild favorite.

Zarb's Luck will meet many of the same horses he defeated last out in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Sprint in the $50,000 Cypress for statebreds Saturday night at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.

The 6 1/2-furlong race, which will be run around two turns, drew a field of nine.

Zarb's Luck is after his third straight statebred stakes win. One start before his win in the Champions Day Sprint, in which he defeated four of the rivals he faces in the Cypress, he won the $50,000 Louisiana Premier Day Sprint at five furlongs at Delta.

Halo Tyra has come home. Halo Tyra, who could go off favored Saturday night in the $50,000 Distaff at Sam Houston Race Park, makes her first start in Texas, where she was bred, after having spent her career in California.

Halo Tyra was purchased privately by Bill Heiligbrodt this winter, following her win last out in the $60,000 Palo Alto Handicap at a mile at Bay Meadows on Oct. 19. She has since shipped to Sam Houston, where her dam was a stakes winner, and has been under the care of local leading trainer Steve Asmussen.

EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Suffolk Downs begins its 2003 open stakes schedule Saturday with the $35,000 Floyd Duncan Stakes, and Boston's best fillies and mares will have to beat the returning champion, Rippling Return.

The six-furlong Duncan is loaded with speedsters, including the defending title-holder, who will be making her first start since last summer for Philadelphia Park-based trainer Ned Allard.