ARCADIA, Calif. – Storm the Court, the champion 2-year-old male of 2019, may remain in California for his second start of the year following a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita.

In his first race since an upset win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile here last November, Storm the Court was beaten 2 1/4 lengths by the heavily favored Nadal in the $200,500 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs. Storm the Court was as close as third on the turn, and was beaten a neck for third by Fast Enough.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Everybody talks about key races as a handicapping tool. But what about key workouts?

Certainly the five furlong work in 1:01.04 on Jan. 30 at Palm Beach Downs matching the team of Last Judgment and Soldado will go down as a key workout after the pair returned just a week later to win feature races here on back-to-back days, capped off by Last Judgment’s impressive 2 3/4-length allowance win on Friday. The previous afternoon, Soldado was equally sharp defeating slightly lesser allowance opposition by 2 1/2 lengths. Both races were decided at six furlongs.

Trainer George Weaver said he will point for a seven-furlong restricted stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in late March with Up in Smoke, a 3-year-old filly who earned a 76 Beyer Speed Figure in winning her career debut last Saturday at Gulfstream.

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Lone Star Park near Dallas has announced a surge in purse money for its 44-date meet, which opens April 16.

The track projects purses will average $245,000 per program, up from $165,000 per day during the meet in 2019. The sharp increase includes $1.4 million in stakes purses, according to Bart Lang, Lone Star’s director of racing.

Minit to Stardom equaled her career-best Beyer Speed Figure – a 94 – with her powerful win in the $100,000 Louisiana Premier Night Matron on Saturday night at Delta Downs. The number matched the one she earned for her victory in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss last July at Saratoga.

Trainer Jose Camejo said Tuesday that plans are pending for Minit to Stardom, a daughter of Star Guitar who races for her breeder, Brittlyn Stables.

No Parole is poised to jump onto the Kentucky Derby trail after winning the first three starts of his career by a combined margin of 34 lengths. His latest score came Saturday night at Delta Downs, in the $100,000 Louisiana Premier Night Prince.

No Parole was making his two-turn debut and set a measured pace under jockey James Graham, responded when asked for run into the stretch, and was in hand late while getting the mile in 1:39.93. The score came off a pair of wins at six furlongs.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- The depth of the stable in trainer Steve Asmussen's care at Oaklawn Park was on full display last Saturday.

Share the Upside put up the meet’s highest Beyer Speed Figure to date when he popped a 104 winning the $125,000 King Cotton. A few races prior, the Group 1-winning mare La Renoleta rolled by 9 3/4 lengths in her North American debut to improve her career record to 5 for 5. 

The Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational Stakes, the centerpiece of the Monmouth Park meet in New Jersey, will be held this year on July 18 as part of a card with five additional stakes, according to a stakes schedule released by the track on Tuesday.

The July 18 Haskell card will feature stakes races with total purses of $1.925 million. Two of the undercard stakes races, the Grade 3, $300,000 Monmouth Cup and Grade 3, $250,000 Molly Pitcher, have been given $100,000 purse bumps this year, according to the track.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- Chase Tracker has put himself in the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes on Monday at Oaklawn Park after a strong recent workout, trainer Todd Pletcher said Monday.

The Southwest carries qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, with the first four finishers to earn points on a scale of 10-4-2-1. The race also anchors a card of three Grade 3 stakes, the others the $500,000 Razorback Handicap and the $200,000 Bayakoa.  

NEW ORLEANS – Midnight Bisou worked five fulongs in 1:00.20 on Sunday, second fastest of 52 works at the distance that morning at Fair Grounds, and remains on track to start Feb. 29 in the $20 million Saudi Cup. The champion older female of 2019, she has been breezing steadily here in New Orleans since December, the only hiccup whatsoever in her Saudi Cup preparation a period of very wet weather that led to a 10-day gap between works.

Sunday, Midnight Bisou worked in company, starting off a few lengths behind her workmate and finishing a couple lengths in front.