ARCADIA, Calif. – Omega Star will make his graded stakes debut in Saturday’s $300,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita, just in time to make an impression in the last major prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 6.

Trained by John Shirreffs for Marty Wygod and Herman Sarkowsky, Omega Star has had three starts, but never faced a field as tough as the one expected for the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes. Run over 1 1/16 miles, the San Felipe is expected to be led by recent graded stakes winners Flashback and Goldencents, top contenders for the Santa Anita Derby.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Super Ninety Nine and Oxbow are both being pointed to the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 16, their respective trainers said Tuesday. Rafael Bejarano has the mount on Super Ninety Nine, according to trainer Bob Baffert, while Mike Smith will be aboard Oxbow, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oxbow is to make his next start in the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel at Oaklawn Park on March 16 and will be ridden by Mike Smith, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said on Tuesday.

Oxbow had been under consideration for the Louisiana Derby after winning the Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds in January and returning to New Orleans last month and finishing a close fourth in the Grade 2 Risen Star.

If trainer Al Stall should happen to make it to the Kentucky Derby this year, it will not be through a conventional route.

After an easy-as-pie triumph in the $50,000 Texas Heritage Stakes at Sam Houston on March 2, Departing will move on to bigger and better things in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on March 30.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Chad Brown said he’d been looking forward to starting Balance the Books in Sunday’s Grade 3 Palm Beach, which was won impressively by Rydilluc, but had to pass the race after Balance the Books took ill. The third-place finisher in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, Balance the Books worked a bullet half-mile in 48.18 seconds over the main track at Palm Meadows on Sunday.

He will run next in the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on March 23, Brown said.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Rudy Rodriguez’s decision to leave Vyjack in New York this winter had everything to do with the gelding’s state of mind.

So, while Rodriguez took about a dozen horses to sunny and sometimes-warm southern Florida – including his top 3-year-old filly, My Happy Face – Vyjack was left behind to endure the harsh winter weather of Queens and Aqueduct’s overly scrutinized inner track.

“He’s a little mental – that was the main reason,” Rodriguez said Sunday. “We didn’t want to go to Gulfstream. Aqueduct is like a private training center.”

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Saturday’s Festival Day will have three stakes races on the program, but the one most of the fans at the track and around the country will be most interested in is the Grade 3, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby.

For years, sharp horsemen and savvy handicappers have come to learn that having at least one strong race over Tampa’s somewhat sandy and tiring surface can help a horse get ready for the first Saturday in May.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The mutuel field closed as a clear-cut choice over the top individually listed option, Verrazano, when Pool 2 of the 2013 Kentucky Derby Future Wager closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern.

The field, the 24th or “all others” option, closed as the 3-1 favorite, with Verrazano next at 8-1. They were followed by Vyjack (11-1), Orb (12-1), Flashback (12-1), Itsmyluckyday (13-1), Revolutionary (15-1), Shanghai Bobby (16-1), Normandy Invasion (17-1), and Super Ninety Nine (17-1).

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Can you say Derby Fever?

It’s certainly hard to blame trainer Gary Contessa and the connections of Rydilluc if they don’t start getting a little excited over the prospects of putting their 3-year-old on the Kentucky Derby trail after his eye-catching 3 1/2-length victory over Charming Kitten in Sunday’s $150,000 Palm Beach at Gulfstream Park.