OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mother Nature, the racing schedule, and herself appear to be the only things that can slow trainer Linda Rice down these days.

Rajiv Maragh, the regular rider of recent champions Groupie Doll and Main Sequence, is relocating to California for the start of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26.

In a phone interview Friday, Maragh said he plans to work horses at Santa Anita on Monday and Tuesday before returning to New York for mounts later in the week. He will return to California for opening day.

“Once I get settled in, I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I’ve always thought that one day I’d want to try California.”

CYPRESS, Calif. – The 4-year-old filly Scathing won a starter allowance at five furlongs Thursday at Los Alamitos, becoming the first horse based at San Luis Rey Downs to start after the devastating wildfire that struck the Bonsall, Calif., training center on Dec. 7.

To be allowed to run, Scathing underwent a two-stage respiratory exam required for any horse based at San Luis Rey Downs at the time of the fire.

Pavel, the 3-year-old colt trained by Doug O’Neill, was never a factor in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 4. Sent off at 28-1, Pavel was sixth on the backstretch and faded to finish 10th, the worst loss of his five-race career.

The assignment was too tough for Pavel, who won the Grade 3 Smarty Jones Stakes at Parx Racing in Pennsylvania on Sept. 4 in his third start.

Chad Brown will have no shortage of top 3-year-old talent in south Florida this winter, including Breeders’ Cup winners Good Magic (Juvenile) and Rushing Fall (Juvenile Fillies Turf), along with the undefeated and yet untested turf specialist Analyze It.

Brown said both Good Magic and Rushing Fall have been training at Stonestreet Farm in Ocala, while Analyze It is with him at Palm Meadows.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Dale Romans has returned to south Florida for the winter, his barn stacked and loaded, particularly with soon-to-turn 3-year-old prospects led by Grade 1 winner Free Drop Billy and Hollywood Star.

Darren Fleming might have pursued a jockey career had he not signed on to work for Steve Asmussen in the early 1990s. Apparently, there were just two obstacles keeping him from the saddle.

“I had a lack of talent – and [I had] excess weight,” deadpanned Fleming.

The featured eighth race Sunday at Fair Grounds is a second-level turf-route allowance also open to $40,000 claimers. It has 11 horses in the main body plus four main-track-only entrants, and on its own would go a long way to holding together the entire program.

But there is much more to this card, mainly in the form of promising 2-year-olds.

Blu Moon Ace, the second-place finisher in the Sept. 16 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park, has been disqualified from the Grade 3 race because of a positive test for an excessive level of cobalt, the mineral that has been used under the belief that it can have effects similar to expensive blood-doping drugs.

Trainer Luis Carvajal’s stable has grown to 15 horses over the past year, 10 of whom, including his top sprinter Imperial Hint, are spending the winter at Tampa Bay Downs. Carvajal’s other horses are stabled at Parx.

“I wanted to continue training with the horses,” Carvajal said. “It is hard up north because of the weather and track conditions. I have a couple of new clients and some horses who want to run on turf. The turf course at Tampa is magnificent.”