ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Wesley Ward is making plans to return to Dubai with Men's Exclusive.

First stop on the trip is at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday for the $100,000 Ken Maddy Sprint, where the 9-year-old Men's Exclusive will be the 121-pound highweight in a field of seven Cal-bred sprinters.

"He's an old horse," Ward said. "We plan on going to Dubai [where Men's Exclusive ran second last year in the $2 million Golden Shaheen], but being an older horse, he runs better with his races close together."

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Stokosky bulled his way through horses near midstretch, then outgamed 5-2 favorite Whata Brainstorm to post a nose victory in Thursday's $46,000 allowance feature on the Gulfstream Park turf.

NEW ORLEANS - In two of the last three meets, the top-class racemare Lu Ravi, now retired, used a win in the Chou Croute Handicap as a springboard to the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap. And though it is the premier route stakes for older fillies and mares at Fair Grounds, the Chou Croute typically serves just that function: a step to bigger and better things.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - , a disappointing fourth in his 3-year-old debut, the Holy Bull Stakes, will try to earn a place in the Grade 1 Florida Derby when he returns against preliminary allowance company in Saturday's 10th race.

Nokoma became a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender when he finished a game second behind Saarland in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes in his juvenile finale. But his 3-year-old campaign started off on a sour note when he tired badly over a deep track to finish a well-beaten fourth behind Booklet and Harlan's Holiday in the Holy Bull.

ARCADIA, Calif. - More purse money in Dubai means fewer horses in California. The trend continues this spring, slicing through a cross-section of the population - the handicap, sprint, and turf divisions. With increasing regularity, horsemen are forsaking the Santa Anita winter meet and instead planning campaigns around the March 23 Dubai World Cup card, which offers total purse money of $15 million. Money talks.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Crafty Shaw, who won last year's Grade 3 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, is on the verge of establishing himself as one of the top handicap horses in the Midwest. A blossoming 4-year-old, Crafty Shaw goes for his fourth straight win Saturday in the Grade 3, $75,000 Essex Handicap.

The 1 1/16-mile race is the first graded race of the meet, and the first of two local preps for

NEW ORLEANS - Publication, the fourth-place finisher in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last fall, might ship from northern California to New Orleans to launch his 3-year-old campaign in the Louisiana Derby on March 10.

Trainer Terry Knight, based at Bay Meadows, said he had nominated Publication to several 3-year-old stakes races, but that he was leaning toward the Louisiana Derby. "Louisiana is my first choice," Knight said.

"I like the track surface and the distance of the race [1 1/16 miles]. I'd prefer to keep him off the harder tracks out here."

JAMAICA, N.Y. - A contentious 18th renewal of the Best Turn Stakes will be run Saturday at Aqueduct, with six of the nine 3-year-olds coming off victories and lifetime best Beyer Speed Figures. The Best Turn is run at six furlongs over the inner track.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - Lord ofthe Thunder, a promising New York-bred 3-year-old son of Saint Ballado, is in South Carolina recuperating from a pulled gluteal muscle and a bruised left front foot and most likely will not be pointed to the Kentucky Derby.

His connections hope that Lord ofthe Thunder will resume training on Saturday, and he will be pointed toward a race in late March, with a possible longer-term goal being the Preakness Stakes on May 18.

When Emeraldforajudge was last seen at Turfway Park in November, she made up more than 11 lengths in the last half-mile to win an entry-level allowance going away as the 2-5 favorite. Back from a brief trip to New Orleans, Emeraldforajudge returns to Turfway in Florence, Ky., Saturday to head a tightly matched field of 3-year-old fillies in the $50,000 Valdale Stakes at one mile.