Made You Look, a multiple graded stakes winner on turf, will make his dirt debut in this Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday.

“The horse has trained really well on dirt, he’s got a dirt pedigree, at some point we wanted to test it,” said Pletcher, who trains Made You Look for Let’s Go Stable and Three Chimneys Farm. “He’s doing real well at the moment. Now’s the time. There are no real easy spots. We figured since he’s here, we’ll stay home and give it a try.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.  - Practical Joke turned in his final prep for this Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park  on Sunday morning at the Palm Meadows Training Center, where he breezed an easy half-mile in 48.19 seconds in company with stablemate Shagaf.

According to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Vesce, Practical Joke went his opening quarter-mile in 24.80, galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.60, and pulled up three-quarters of a mile in 1:14.

If your inclination is to take Girvin’s upset of Saturday’s Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds lightly because it’s still early on the road to the Kentucky Derby, you might want to reassess.

Yes, it may still feel like we’re early on the Derby trail, but it’s actually later than you think. We are now in penultimate Derby prep territory. The Risen Star is the local springboard to the Louisiana Derby on April 1, which comes five weeks before the Kentucky Derby. And, notably, the Risen Star was the first U.S. race this year to offer 50 Derby points to the winner.

NEW ORLEANS – As the Fair Grounds assistant to trainer Mike Maker, Joe Sharp went down the Kentucky Derby trail in 2014 with Louisiana Derby winner Vicar’s In Trouble. Later that year, Sharp went out on his own, and now, as a head trainer, Sharp has a Triple Crown prospect in his own stable, Girvin, who was a two-length winner of the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Trainer Graham Motion said he "couldn't be happier" with Irish War Cry’s final work for next Saturday's Fountain of Youth Stakes after his undefeated 3-year-old breezed five furlongs in 1:01.80 and galloped out six panels in 1:13.40 on Saturday morning at Palm Meadows.

Saint’s Fan could make his next start in the $1 million Louisiana Derby here on April 1. Or he could make his next start at Keeneland in April. Or be pointed for the $75,000 Crescent City Derby for Louisiana-breds, another April 1 race at Fair Grounds.

The point is that Dallas Stewart, who bred, owns, and trains Saint’s Fan, isn’t in a rush to decide exactly where to run his horse, who worked a half-mile in 50.20 seconds here Friday.

True Timber set the pace after stumbling badly at the break in the Grade 3 Withers, a race in which he ultimately finished second to El Areeb.

Judging by the way he breezed Friday at Belmont Park, True Timber will not be part of the pace when he meets El Areeb again in next Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.

NEW ORLEANS – Plans for the three horses who as of Friday afternoon were going to scratch from Saturday’s Risen Star Stakes are in various states of certainty.

So Conflated, who didn’t ship to Fair Grounds from Santa Anita for trainer Doug O’Neill, is being rerouted to next Saturday’s Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct, O’Neill confirmed via text message.

Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Oaklawn Park, Feb. 20, 2017

 (10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

 Winner: One Liner, by Into Mischief

 Trainer: Todd Pletcher

 Jockey: John Velazquez

 Owner: WinStar Farm LLC, China Horse Club, and SF Racing LLC

 Beyer Speed Figure: 102

NEW ORLEANS – This is Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. Beads hang from trees along the Uptown parade routes. Booze-soused crowds shuffle through the French Quarter. Locals have their costumes ready for Fat Tuesday. And when the dust settles after the Risen Star Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds, a lot more will be known about which horses were merely dressed up as Kentucky Derby hopefuls and which had substance underneath.