OPELOUSAS, La. – With Louisiana Legends Night at Evangeline Downs a little more than a week away, the connections of some of the major players are making final preparations for one of the state’s biggest racing days. Eight stakes restricted to statebreds and worth a combined $775,000 should provide some real fireworks the evening of July 4.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Spanish Queen, the top 3-year-old turf filly in California, posted a sharp dirt workout Wednesday at Santa Anita as she prepares for her first road trip. The Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks and a showdown with the undefeated Lady Eli is next for Spanish Queen, who worked five furlongs for trainer Richard Baltas and jockey Brice Blanc.

The winner of the Grade 1 American Oaks on May 30, Spanish Queen caught company at the top of the stretch in her work.

“Brice said he was going to go around, but she wanted to go in between,” Baltas said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Warren’s Veneda wants to do more. She wants to train, and she wants to race. Trainer Craig Lewis will oblige.

Only 10 days after a solid runner-up finish to Beholder in the Grade 3 Adoration Stakes, Warren’s Veneda worked a snappy five furlongs Tuesday at Santa Anita in 58.80 seconds and will wheel back July 11 in a sprint stakes at Los Alamitos.

“She loves to train, and she loves to run,” Lewis said. “She seems to be able to do more than I want her to do. She’s been able to take a lot of hard races and bounce out very well.”

Promise Me Silver, who was undefeated in eight career starts prior to her 10th-place finish in the Acorn, will return to Belmont Park for the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes on July 4.

Promise Me Silver was off slowly at the start of the Acorn, then rushed up to take the lead through a 22.89-second opening quarter. She tired in the stretch of the one-mile race.

The New York Racing Association has announced that it will guarantee the size of some pick four, pick five, and pick six pools at Saratoga.

The late pick four on Saturdays will be guaranteed to handle $500,000. The guarantee will be higher on Travers Day (Aug. 29, $1 million), Whitney Day (Aug. 8, $750,000), and Woodward Day (Sept. 5, $750,000).

On the Whitney and Travers cards, a $400,000-guaranteed pick five will begin in race 1, and a $250,000-guaranteed pick six will begin in race 6.

A year ago, Untapable was the queen of the Mother Goose. Entering off a big win in the Kentucky Oaks, she defeated four rivals by more than nine lengths at a nickel on the dollar.

The scenario for this Saturday’s Mother Goose is different, as Larry Jones is tentatively pointing Oaks winner Lovely Maria to the July 11 Delaware Oaks. But while the Grade 1 Mother Goose won’t have a standout, it is not likely to have a large field either.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – At the age of 94, Jerry Bozzo became the oldest trainer ever to win a stakes when Flutterby ran the race of her life to capture the Sea Lily Handicap here last month. On July 5, Bozzo will attempt to become the oldest trainer ever to win a graded stakes when he brings his homebred filly back in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney Handicap.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Before going home to England for a brief vacation, Sophie Doyle left Kentucky with easily the richest win of her riding career.

Doyle won the $68,817 Roxelana Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs aboard 25-1 shot Fioretti for her first stakes win. Doyle, 27, first came to the U.S. in 2011 and worked for trainers Ian Wilkes, Steve Asmussen, and Kellyn Gorder before she rode her first winner here last November for Larry Demeritte.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jockey Victor Lebron returned Sunday at Churchill following a seven-week hiatus in preparation for what he and agent Nelson Arroyo hope will be a productive summer at Ellis Park.

Lebron had not ridden since May 2 at Tampa Bay Downs. A motorcycle aficionado, he has been busy setting up a vehicle-repair and sales business in the Tampa area, according to Arroyo.

“He’s all set up with it now,” said Arroyo. “He and his family have moved back here to Louisville, and he’s ready to get back to riding.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Corey Lanerie has been the dominant jockey in recent years at Churchill Downs, but he’s got company atop the standings as the 2015 spring meet winds to a close.

Julien Leparoux has been on a tear, and with just three days to go at the 38-day meet, Lanerie is clinging to a 37-36 lead.

“Everything is going great again,” said Leparoux. “I’m riding good horses for good people. It just goes that way sometimes.”