JAMAICA, N.Y. - Trainer Jimmy Jerkens is off to an excellent start in Aqueduct stakes this year.

Jerkens won the Count Fleet with Iron Deputy on Jan. 5 and the Paumonok with Wrangler last Saturday. Jerkens was shut out of a stakes double when Madame X Ski finished second in Sunday's Busanda.

On Saturday at the Big A, Jerkens saddles the favorite, Dat You Miz Blue, in the $75,000-added Correction Handicap for fillies and mares. Dat You Miz Blue, a graded stakes winner for Cynthia Knight, is the 121-pound highweight in the nine-horse field.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - A refreshed Robin De Nest, who upset top regional sprinter Bonapaw in December, makes his first start since then Saturday in the $50,000 King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

The six-furlong King Cotton has drawn a fast cast of 10, including defending champ Bidis, the fast Kettle Man, the honest Sand Ridge, and the Texas shipper Boots on Sunday.

NEW ORLEANS - You could say Mike Pino's training career was at a crossroads two years ago, but that would not be completely accurate. It was more like a dead end.

Pino was just plugging along at the Bowie Training Center in Maryland, training eight mediocre horses at the rather dilapidated Bowie. Pino, who had been a Maryland regular since taking out his training license in 1983, decided to move to Delaware Park in April 2000. Since then, his career has not been the same.

Even though a race called the WEBN Frog Stakes will never be confused with a top Kentucky Derby prep such as, say, the Florida Derby or Blue Grass Stakes, "the Frog," named for a Cincinnati sports-radio station, still will determine where trainer Murray Johnson will head next with the promising 3-year-old colt Perfect Drift.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park has a reputation as a good place to claim horses, a place to restock the barn for the coming year. A mix of stables from different circuits, as well as horses who have been freshened since the fall, makes shopping a popular pastime at Oaklawn.

Last year, 197 horses were claimed during the 52-day meet, accounting for $2.7 million in commerce among stables. That's an average of almost four claims a card, which is just what happened here opening weekend.

PORTLAND, Ore. - With only two weekends remaining in the abbreviated Portland Meadows meeting, director of racing Jerry Kohls has decided to make the most of limited opportunities. So Kohls carded 14 races for Saturday's program, and will attempt to do the same on Sunday and on both days next weekend.

Judging by the response of horsemen, who entered 137 horses in Saturday's 14 races, there will be no problem filling the races.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Pelirrojo passed his first test as a 3-year-old with a victory in an allowance race Wednesday at Santa Anita. His next assignment, the $200,000 San Rafael Stakes on March 2, will dictate his short-term future.

The win on Wednesday left trainer John Sadler optimistic that Pelirrojo can show further improvement in important 3-year-old stakes in coming weeks.

"I like the way he ran," Sadler said. "He can close."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Only two years after winning the riding title at Santa Anita, Corey Nakatani is far behind in this year's jockey standings.

Once expected to challenge for the riding title at any major meeting in Southern California, Nakatani has ridden just three winners in 62 mounts at the Santa Anita meet, which opened Dec. 26. Nakatani, 31, already trails leader Alex Solis by 22 wins and would gladly settle for any spot in the top 10 when the meet ends on April 21.

The reappearance of long-absent Touch Love has apparently scared off most of the competition in Saturday's $60,000 Jameela Stakes at Laurel Park.

Only 11 3-year-old fillies were nominated for the seven-furlong race, which is restricted to Maryland-breds. Just five opponents will line up to face the undefeated Touch Love.

EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Few racing regions appreciate the unseasonably warm weather that spread over the country last week more than New England.

With just one cancellation at Suffolk Downs through January and recent record-high temperatures, Suffolk Downs officials and horsemen are cautiously optimistic about the rest of the winter.

"It's been very good," said chief operating officer Bob O'Malley. "Last year the weather turned awful right at Thanksgiving and things were dreary for five months. Now we can count down to April 1."