Mike Welsch

Eddie Plesa Jr., one of the most successful trainers on the South Florida racing scene for the past five decades, will call it quits after sending out Timeless Victory here Saturday in the $1 million Florida Derby.

Even though Commandment and The Puma hit the finish line as one at the end of Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby, trainer Gustavo Delgado and his son Gustavo Jr. were confident their horse, The Puma, had gotten to the wire first. As did, it seemed, the majority of those who watched the race, either on track or off, around the country.

Trainer David Fawkes was 35,000 feet in the air and still had eight hours left on his flight back to the United States when admitting Monday morning he was more than ready to get back home after spending the past 10 days in Dubai. The journey was part of a whirlwind couple of months for the locally based and now globe-trotting horseman, who journeyed twice to the Middle East this winter with his world-class turf sprinter Reef Runner.

Some eyebrows might have raised when Runaway Diva was assigned high weight of 123 pounds for Saturday's $75,000 Mo Green overnight handicap.

Activity has definitely begun to pick up at Churchill Downs as more and more of the participants in the Kentucky Derby and Oaks arrive on a daily basis. The special Derby/Oaks training session Wednesday was the busiest it's been since put into play last week and became even a bit more special with a guest appearance by reigning Derby winner and Horse of the Year Sovereignty.

The first time Unwritten Rule shipped to Gulfstream Park was earlier this spring to run in the Texas Glitter Stakes, but when rain forced the race to be switched from turf to Tapeta trainer Tom Proctor opted to scratch him. Proctor is hopeful Mother Nature will be a little more cooperative on Sunday, when Unwritten Rule returns for the $100,000 Roar Stakes.

The Puma, scratched from the Kentucky Derby the morning of the race due to a swollen pastern apparently resulting from a skin infection in his leg, returned to his home base at Gulfstream Park on Thursday where he’ll continue preparations for the second half of his 3-year-old campaign.

After winning a pair of stakes on Friday at Laurel, including the Black-Eyed Susan with My Miss Mo, what could trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. do for an encore? Win two more stakes the following afternoon over his home base at Gulfstream Park, that's what.

A relatively quiet and uneventful Tuesday morning at the Oklahoma training track suddenly became quite noteworthy shortly before 10 a.m. when Baeza, the final worker of the day, came on the track to breeze five furlongs from the half-mile pole in 1:01.06 as he continues preparations for the $2 million Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 27.

For a horse who posted Beyer Speed Figures between 84 and 97 in all seven starts last season, it's hard to believe Hop Sing is still eligible for the nonwinners-of-two allowance condition.