As someone who has been working with racehorses for 17 years, Steve Margolis is fully aware that most Kentucky Derby contenders don't spend their winters at chilly Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

Yet Margolis is confident that recent months at Turfway have been very productive for , the colt he will saddle Saturday in Turfway's annual showcase event, the $500,000 Lane's End Spiral Stakes.

"I think it was the right decision to stay here," Margolis said Tuesday on a national conference call. "Everything's worked out timing-wise, and we haven't missed any time training."

ALBANY, Calif. - California's high rates for workman's compensation insurance have led some trainers based in Washington and Canada to return to their home bases early. Other barns have consolidated in an effort to cut costs.

One trainer at Golden Gate Fields has come up with his own solution, one that can be seen in the entries for Thursday's feature race.

Listed as the trainer of record for Mt. Ouray is Elaine Wenstrom, a long-time assistant to Duane Offield. Offield is now listed as Wenstrom's assistant trainer.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - While all the focus of late has been on the 3-year-old colts, a filly who figures to be among the leaders of her division this year has been training sharply for her return. Bella Bellucci, last seen finishing third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, has put in a series of excellent workouts of late, and the best might have come Tuesday morning at Hollywood Park.

NEW ORLEANS - Ship-ins for Sunday's Explosive Bid were to begin arriving at Fair Grounds Wednesday, when three or four horses from Florida were scheduled to fly into New Orleans. On Thursday, a West Coast flight, which probably will carry four horses, is due in.

They have come for a $700,000 purse, and they have come in strength. Hap, a multiple graded stakes winner, heads the East Coast contingent. He will be joined by North East Bound, who has regained his form of two years ago when he was second in the Breeders' Cup Mile, Pisces, and perhaps Whata Brainstorm.

Gulfstream Park was dark on Monday, the first Monday that the track did not hold a live race since opening on Jan. 3. It will be that way for the five remaining weeks in the extended Gulfstream meet, with one fewer day of racing a week for south Florida racing fans, trainers, and owners, and one fewer working day for Gulfstream employees.

But if anyone is upset about lost betting, racing, or earning opportunities, the complaints haven't reached the ears of the horsemen.

Jockey Tony D'Amico on Monday hit the hat trick he didn't want to hit. After being removed earlier this year from the top Ken McPeek-trained 3-year-olds, Harlan's Holiday and Repent, D'Amico has been replaced aboard Perfect Drift for Saturday's $500,000 Lane's End Spiral Stakes.

Murray Johnson, the trainer of Perfect Drift, said two-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Eddie Delahoussaye would ride Perfect Drift in the Spiral.

The Maryland Jockey Club, the owners and operators of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, had a profit of $1.5 million in 2001, according to financial statements filed with the Maryland Racing Commission.

The 2001 result was nearly double the profits posted by the MJC in 2000, when net income was $671,000. Joe De Francis, the chairman of the MJC, attributed the gain to record-setting wagering and attendance figures for the 2001 Preakness and cost-cutting at the MJC's racetracks.

OCALA, Fla. - Bold World toyed with a field of six rivals in the six-furlong $50,000 Ocala Breeders' Sale Sprint Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on a non-betting program at the Ocala Training Center on Monday.

Bold World raced alongside Stacy's Toy and Sea Span before jockey Jorge Chavez let her run, and then it was just a question of the winning margin. She won by 10 1/2 lengths in 1:09.80. Sea Span finished second.

The $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar will be run a week later than a year ago, one of a few minor revisions on the stakes schedule for Del Mar's upcoming meeting, which runs from July 24 to Sept. 11.

The highlight of the season, the $1 million Pacific Classic, will be run on Aug. 25, a week later than last year. The Pacific Classic is one of five Grade 1 races on the schedule.

There are two Grade 1 stakes on opening weekend, the Ramona Handicap for fillies and mares on July 27 and the Eddie Read Handicap on July 28.

ARCADIA, Calif. - It may be only the first day of spring, but 2-year-old racing starts at Santa Anita on Wednesday with a two-furlong dash for California-bred fillies.

Over the years, the two-furlong races have drawn a wide range of talent, from future stars such as Golden Ballet, who parlayed the experience of two losses in such races in 2000 to a career that include six stakes victories, to a great majority of others who never made a significant impact.