Pinnacle Peak, a game front-running winner of a 2-year-old first-level dirt-route allowance Friday night at Fair Grounds, is a likely runner in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 16, trainer Mike Stidham said. Stidham could have two horses in the Lecomte, with Noble Thought, a good-looking dirt-route maiden winner here on Dec. 4, also pointed toward the Lecomte.

NEW ORLEANS – The best-looking winners of Saturday stakes races at Fair Grounds all appeared to be in good shape Sunday morning, with attention now turning to where these horses will next start.

That’s particularly the case with Eagle, who won his third straight race with an impressive victory in the Tenacious Stakes. Eagle ran the fastest mile-and-70-yard time here at Fair Grounds, 1:41.63, in almost five years, and did so under a hand ride from Brian Hernandez Jr. He earned a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Things are getting serious surrounding California Chrome’s comeback.

On Saturday morning at Los Alamitos, California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, worked six furlongs in 1:13.80, his longest workout since a return to training in mid-October. He is three weeks away from a scheduled start in the $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Jan. 9.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Grade 1 winners Lochte and Twilight Eclipse were among the 26 horses nominated to the Grade 3 W.L. McKnight Handicap here next Saturday. The grassy McKnight will share top billing on the card with its filly counterpart, the Grade 3 La Prevoyante, and the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl for fillies and mares on the main track.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Little Mike, who has not started since winning the Flying Pidgeon Stakes here in May 2014, will launch one more comeback, owner and trainer Carlo Vaccarezza said this week.

A good horse can come from anywhere, and if trainer Bret Calhoun didn’t know that before, he has found that out this year.

“I keep telling people my hopes for the future are a New York-bred, a Louisiana-bred, and a Texas-bred by a teaser stallion,” Calhoun said.

Hugh Robertson took out his trainer’s license in 1976, so when he says that Lovable Lyss is the best filly he has ever trained, there’s some historical weight behind the statement. And that’s what Robertson said Friday, the day after Lovable Lyss won her second race of the Fair Grounds meet in her first try around two turns, winning by five lengths after setting a strong pace. The race decided by midstretch, Cisco Torres eased Lovable Lyss through the final furlong.

Carlos Marquez Jr. considered retiring, weary of the injuries a man will incur in 30 years of riding racehorses.

But with 2,800 wins to his credit, and with a competitive fire that still burns, the 48-year-old Marquez has made his way to Turfway Park for the winter for the first time.

Marquez has been riding for accomplished trainers such as Mike Maker, Kellyn Gorder, and Helen Pitts since arriving this month at Turfway in northern Kentucky, where nearly 20 years ago he won the track’s signature race – then known as the Jim Beam Stakes – when riding Concerto.

NEW ORLEANS – It has happened quickly for apprentice rider Erica Murray. Last winter, she was exercising horses in New Orleans, still learning the ropes of the racetrack. A month into the 2015-16 Fair Grounds meet, Murray is a top-10 rider, with a record of 6-7-6 from 54 mounts through Thursday’s card.

“It’s kind of crazy,” Murray said. “Last year, I was here galloping. I never thought I’d be riding this year.”

Ben’s Duchess has not raced since winning the Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 4. This was not the way trainer John Sadler envisioned preparing the 3-year-old filly for the $300,000 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

“They couldn’t fill a race for her at Del Mar,” he said, referring to the track’s autumn meeting.

As a result, Ben’s Duchess will start in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs after a layoff of 12 weeks. The break between races is not a concern for Sadler, who trains Ben’s Duchess for Doubledown Stables.