HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The connections of Keen Ice seriously considered scratching the colt from the Clark Handicap in November, saying the conditions were not ideal, most notably the shorter-than-preferred distance of 1 1/8 miles.

Keen Ice ultimately started in the Clark at Churchill Downs, and although he did run out of ground while finishing a late-closing fourth, the race served as fair warning that the best may still lay ahead for a colt who will always be remembered as the only horse to defeat American Pharoah as a 3-year-old.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On the weekend of Jan. 23-24, the New York City area was hit by a storm named Jonas that brought upward of two feet of snow. This past week, Aqueduct was hit by a storm named Rudy, as in trainer Rudy Rodriguez, who won nine of the 13 races in which he participated. He now has 29 victories for the inner-track meet to lead the trainers’ standings by 10 over second-place Linda Rice.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As the distances get longer, trainer Marialice Coffey believes Flora Dora will get better. Coffey felt Flora Dora’s one-length victory in Sunday’s $100,000 Busanda Stakes was a good start for what she hopes turns into a trip to the Kentucky Oaks in May.

“Every race, she gets better,” Coffey said. “She seems to be growing into herself and developing. I’d like to see her start fleshing out a little bit, but she’s maintained her weight, and she ate up everything.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It was a good news-bad news-good news kind of weekend for trainer Chad Brown as far as his 3-year-olds were concerned.

Winning performances by Shagaf at Gulfstream Park on Friday and My Man Sam at Aqueduct on Sunday sandwiched the fourth-place finish by Flexibility, the 1-2 favorite, in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.

It turns out that an old horse can learn new tricks – in this case, winning on dirt.

Lori Smock, the breeder, owner, and trainer of Allie’s Event, considered scratching the 10-year-old Wild Event gelding from the ninth race at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday when the second-level optional $32,000 claimer was moved from the turf to the main track. But she remembered the horse’s only previous start on dirt, a second-place finish to the stakes winner Old Time Hockey in March 2014, and decided to let him run.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Airoforce, the runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, will not make his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 13, but trainer Mark Casse still is likely to be represented in the race by Whatawonderflworld, the winner of the $100,000 males’ division of the OBS Championship.

Airoforce breezed five furlongs in 1:00.25 on Sunday, the second-fastest of 32 workouts at the distance at Palm Meadows that day.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer John Servis said the undefeated Cathryn Sophia came out of her 5 1/2-length victory here in Saturday’s Grade 2 Forward Gal “super” and that he will look down the road to the one-mile Davona Dale on Feb. 27 as the most likely option for her next start.

“If she looks like she can handle two turns after that, we’ll point for the [Kentucky] Oaks,” said Servis. “If not, my early goal would be the Acorn.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Marcus Vitali has his top handicap star Valid nominated to both the Grade 1 Donn and the Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper here on Saturday and said he’s leaning toward running him a mile in the Hooper rather than 1 1/8 miles in the Donn. Valid dropped a heartbreaking head decision to Mshawish in the Hal’s Hope after defeating Madefromlucky in the Harlan’s Holiday. The Harlan’s Holiday was his first start since a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher might be a little light in the 3-year-old ranks, but he certainly does not have that problem in the handicap division. Pletcher has a half-dozen or more top older horses in the barn, and his arsenal was strengthened even further with impressive allowance victories last Thursday by General a Rod and on Sunday by Outlash.

ARCADIA, Calif.- Leading jockey Santiago Gonzalez will serve an additional one-day suspension  on Feb. 6 for riding more than one designated race on Saturday’s California Cup program.

Riders are allowed to ride in one designated race – graded stakes and California Cup stakes at the current winter-spring meeting - during routine suspensions. Gonzalez rode all five of the Cal Cup stakes.