OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In an attempt to stimulate early activity in its 2-year-old program, the New York Racing Association plans to offer $100,000 purses for six maiden juvenile races – three for females and three for males – in April and May. The usual purse for a maiden race at that time of year is $75,000.

The three races in each division are designed to produce runners for the Astoria and Tremont stakes on June 9 and 10 at Belmont Park. The maiden races will be known as the Astoria Trial A, B, and C and the Tremont Trial A, B, and C.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher might give Sudden Surprise an opportunity to stretch out in distance at some point, but he’s just not sure that will happen in Saturday’s $100,000 Damon Runyon Stakes at Aqueduct.

Pletcher entered both Sudden Surprise, a three-time stakes-winning sprinter, and Spooked Out, a maiden winner from three starts, in both the Damon Runyon at a mile and 70 yards and Sunday’s $150,000 Great White Way Division of the New York Stallion Stakes at six furlongs.

Nyquist and Songbird – both undefeated, both Breeders’ Cup winners, and both undoubtedly to be named Eclipse Award winners – are the marquee names among the 3-year-olds of 2016 based this winter at Santa Anita, the track where three of the last four Kentucky Derby winners have trained during winter months.

Last year’s Santa Anita winter meeting saw American Pharoah train toward his Triple Crown run, Dortmund emerge as the leading 3-year-old who actually raced at the meet, Shared Belief beat California Chrome in the San Antonio, and jockey Gary Stevens win his 5,000th race in North America, then turn 52.

This year’s meet might unfold a bit differently:

:: Santa Anita: Buy PPs, watch Saturday’s card live

Santiago Gonzalez walked off an airplane after a flight from Miami in December 2014, brand new to Southern California.

The jockey had been successful in his native Venezuela and had won 41 races at Gulfstream Park West and Gulfstream Park in 2014 but needed a change. California, he hoped, was the answer.

“It was a dream to come here to ride,” he said last week.

:: Santa Anita: Buy PPs, watch Saturday’s card live

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockeys Luis Saez, Tyler Gaffalione, and Julien Leparoux have all been red-hot of late.

Saez rode four winners on Friday and came back with a double Sunday with Ever Arch and Still Krz. Gaffalione, who posted a four-bagger of his own last Wednesday, made back-to-back visits to the winner’s circle Sunday with Bridle Fashion ($30.20) and Cape Caroline ($13.40). Leparoux won five races from Friday through Sunday, including Saturday’s Tropical Park Derby aboard Solemn Tribute.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Lady Eli, who contracted laminitis after winning the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 4 at Belmont Park, has been jogging on a regular basis for nearly a week at the Palm Meadows training center. Trained by Chad Brown, Lady Eli has won all six of her starts and is among the candidates for an Eclipse Award as top female turf horse in 2015.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Doug O’Neill said Monday that undefeated Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Nyquist might wind up preparing for the Kentucky Derby in south Florida this winter.

Based at Santa Anita, O’Neill said he is considering bringing horses to Florida because the El Niño climate phenomenon is expected to bring unseasonable amounts of rain to California this winter. O’Neill has contacted officials at Gulfstream Park about securing stall space for Nyquist and perhaps several other members of his stable.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Kathleen O’Connell’s barn pulled off a 20-1 shocker here Sunday, when the venerable veteran Dannhauser outfought 6-5 favorite War Envoy to win by a head in a second-level optional $32,000 claimer on turf.

War Envoy had placed in three stakes at the Group 2 or Group 3 level last year in Europe for trainer Aidan O’Brien and won the Britannia Stakes at Ascot in June. He most recently was last in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland, his first start for trainer Wesley Ward.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher unveiled a potential leading contender for the Grade 3 Florida Oaks in the Irish-bred Spinamiss, who won a first-level optional $75,000 claimer by a neck over a game Saturn Lace at Tampa Bay Downs on Sunday.