HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Mark Casse said Sunday that Classic Empire will not make the March 4 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, as had been tentatively planned, but that any subsequent prep race for the May 6 Kentucky Derby remains possible for him.

The reigning divisional champion, Classic Empire was scheduled to breeze Monday morning toward the Fountain of Youth, but that plan has been scrapped because of a nagging hoof abscess.

ALBANY, Calif. -- Zakaroff scored the second biggest upset in the 36-year history of the Grade 3, $200,450 El Camino Real Derby, scoring a one-half-length victory at nearly 49-1 as locally based runners swept the top three positions in the premier race for 3-year-olds at  Golden Gate Fields.

   Zakaroff's stunning win nearly matched the $126 upset by Autism Awareness in 2008 when the race was run at Bay Meadows. He was the longest shot in the field, more than double the price of Kona Dreams, who is still a maiden.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth only two weeks away, prospective contenders were active at training venues throughout south Florida on Saturday, most notably at Gulfstream Park, where Three Rules and the Peruvian hopeful Huracan Americo both turned in their penultimate works for the important Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby prep.

LAUREL, Md. – El Areeb, a runaway winner of four straight races, including a pair of Grade 3 stakes at Aqueduct, the Jerome and Withers, breezed a quicker-than-it-looked half-mile at his home base of Laurel Park on Saturday in 47.80 seconds.

The work was the second-fastest of 35 at the distance, according to head clocker Kevin Geraghty, who timed El Areeb through an opening quarter in 24 seconds and in a gallop-out time of 1:00.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Uncontested enters the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes on Monday as the top 3-year-old at Oaklawn. But he faces a new round of challenges to maintain his standing.

Uncontested must deal with a jumbo field of 12 rivals that includes new shooters like Lookin At Lee and One Liner and improving locals like Petrov. There’s also the question of pace, as pressure could come from Cool Arrow, Chief Know It All, and Warrior’s Club.

“It’s always going to be a tougher race, a tougher test, tougher situations,” said Wayne Catalano, who trains Uncontested.

There’s a Kentucky Derby prep race Sunday – on the other side of the world.

The Hyacinth Stakes, over about one mile on dirt at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan, is the second of two races in the so-called Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. The two-race sequence was introduced for this year by Churchill Downs to allow a Japan-based horse to qualify for the Kentucky Derby field, which is capped at 20 runners.

Fair Grounds has rolled out the welcome mat for the Southern California shipper So Conflated – emphasis on “out.”

So Conflated drew the outside post when 14 horses were entered in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star on Thursday in New Orleans. So Conflated, who won the $100,000 California Derby in his most recent start, is trained by Doug O’Neill, owned by Reddam Racing, and will be ridden by Mario Gutierrez, the connections who won the Kentucky Derby last year with Nyquist. O’Neill, ever the optimist, wasn’t fazed by the news of his colt’s wide post.

Sheer Flattery and Ann Arbor Eddie will take the bulk of the mutuel action in Saturday’s Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields, and the reasons are clear. Sheer Flattery is a graded stakes dropper whose last two Beyer Speed Figures exceed the career tops of his rivals, and Ann Arbor Eddie is a winner of three of four starts and a two-time stakes winner routing, albeit facing California-bred company.

At least a dozen 3-year-olds were expected to be entered Thursday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 25 at Fair Grounds.

Fair Grounds racing officials on Wednesday listed Arklow, Girvin, Guest Suite, It’s Your Nickel, Local Hero, Mo Town, Shareholder Value, So Conflated, Sorry Erik, Takeoff, Untrapped, and U S Officer as expected entrants in the Risen Star. The race, one of six stakes on the card, will be contested at 1 1/16 miles and is the first North American Kentucky Derby prep of the year to offer 50 Derby qualifying points to the winner.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Among the paddock schoolers at Gulfstream Park on Wednesday was Huracan Americo, a Group 1 winner in his native Chile at 2 who is currently being pointed toward a possible start in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on March 4.