HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – “Can you get me the long range forecast for Florida Derby Day?”

That was a smiling Kiaran McLaughlin’s first comment in the winner’s circle after his 3-year-old prospect Soldat had skipped through the slop to a convincing 10 3/4-length victory over Cool Blue Red Hot and five other 3-year-olds in Friday’s nine-furlong allowance feature. The performance thrust Soldat, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up, right into the thick of any current discussion regarding potential Kentucky Derby candidates.

Trainer Nick Zito scratched Dialed In, his top 3-year-old prospect, out of Friday’s featured ninth race less than three hours before post time due to the sloppy racetrack. Zito said he would likely run Dialed In, a son of Mineshaft, back in the Grade 3 Holy Bull a week from Sunday.

Tapizar demolished four rivals Jan. 15 in the Sham, earning a 97 Beyer while propelled by the bias. Making his first start since Nov. 27, the Steve Asmussen trainee confirmed his status as one of the elite 3-year-olds in California even while racing greenly off the turn. Tapizar will remain at Santa Anita and aim for the Santa Anita Derby on April 9.

Comma to the Top, the winner of the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity on Dec. 18 and two other stakes at the Hollywood Park fall meeting, worked six furlongs in 1:13.60 on Wednesday at Hollywood Park.

Miller said Comma to the Top remains on schedule for the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 12.

“We’re leaning toward that race,” Miller said. “We’ll start to tighten the screws a little bit next week.”

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NEW ORLEANS – No one is calling the 3-year-old colt Justin Phillip bipolar, schizophrenic, or anything like that. “Quirky” was the word his trainer, Steve Asmussen, chose to describe him.

“Ninety percent of the time he’s fine,” Asmussen said Thursday morning at Fair Grounds. “The other 10 percent, you just don’t know.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs has set the dates for the three three-day pools in the 2011 Kentucky Derby Future Wager while announcing that exacta wagering will be offered for the first time in the single Kentucky Oaks Future Wager pool.

The dates are Feb. 18-20, March 11-13, and April 1-3.

This is the 13th year for the Future Wager, which has undergone a number of changes through the years. The latest is exactas in the Oaks pool, which will again run concurrently with Derby Pool 2. Exactas were first offered on Derby futures during Pool 2 of 2009.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The 2011 Preakness is still more than four months away, but the MI Developments Preakness 5.5 kicks off here next Sunday with the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes. The Preakness 5.5 is a $5.5 million bonus that will be awarded to the owner and trainer of any 3-year-old who wins a series of races at MID tracks culminating with the Preakness at Pimlico on May 21.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- While Uncle Mo understandably garners most of the attention when it comes to trainer Todd Pletcher’s band of 3-year-old prospects, there are at least a half-dozen other prominent youngsters of both sexes who could have a major impact in stakes races throughout the course of the winter.

Brethren, Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver’s little brother, is still a few breezes away from his 3-year-old debut.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Uncle Mo is about ready to get back to some serious work.

Uncle Mo, crowned juvenile champion at Monday’s Eclipse Award ceremonies, has been galloping steadily at the Palm Meadows training facility and according to his trainer, Todd Pletcher, is almost up to his first breeze as a 3-year-old.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Most first-level allowance races are ordinary affairs, rarely eliciting more than passing interest other than from handicappers trying to find a winner to bet on. But first-level allowance races for 3-year-olds during the first two months of the Gulfstream Park meet are anything but blase, usually producing one or more contenders for the major Kentucky Derby preps to be decided later in the session.