HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Nobody was running any better at the end of the Grade 2 Risen Star than Keen Ice, and trainer Dale Romans is expecting an even better performance when his top Kentucky Derby hopeful returns to Fair Grounds and stretches out another sixteenth of a mile later this month in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby.

Keen Ice turned in his first work since the Risen Star here at Gulfstream Park on Wednesday, going five furlongs from the half-mile pole in 1:00.98, with his final quarter-mile to the wire in 23.85 seconds.

James Graham should be on top of the world.

With 90 wins at this meet, he is 25 up on the second-place rider in the Fair Grounds colony, and Graham is a 1-9 favorite to win his first Fair Grounds riding title after finishing second or third in the standings the last six seasons.

Work All Week, the champion sprinter of 2014 who is being considered for the Count Fleet, is due to arrive at Oaklawn this weekend, trainer Roger Brueggemann said. Work All Week, who in his last start won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, was freshened after the race and has been in training at a farm in Ocala, Fla. Brueggemann, who trains the champion for Midwest Thoroughbreds, has a division at Oaklawn.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Ana for older female grass runners Sunday is expected to include Rosalind and Testa Rossi, both trained by Chad Brown, who worked as an assistant in California for Bobby Frankel before going out on his own.

Rosalind was second in the Grade 3 Suwanee River at Gulfstream in her last start Feb. 7, her first race since moving to Brown’s barn. Joel Rosario has the mount.

Testa Rossi was placed first via disqualification in the Grade 3 Endeavour at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 31. Rafael Bejarano rides her.

ARCADIA, Calif. – In addition to winning the Santa Anita Handicap with Shared Belief on Saturday, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer captured the San Carlos Stakes with the sprinter Wild Dude, who returned to his best form while making his second start following a nine-month layoff.

“He ran terrific. I thought he’d improve off his comeback,” Hollendorfer said, referring to the Palos Verdes, in which Wild Dude finished third.

Hollendorfer said he had yet to formulate a plan for Wild Dude, though the Grade 2, $200,000 Kona Gold Stakes here April 11 is the next logical local spot.

ARCADIA, Calif. – With the local older fillies and mares lacking a clear-cut leader until two-time champion Beholder gets back to the races, a number of runners from out of state are set to invade Santa Anita for Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Santa Margarita Stakes, the championship race of the meet for the division.

Cassatt, Dame Dorothy, and Frivolous – all stakes winners in their last starts – were expected to head west for the Santa Margarita, to be run at 1 1/8 miles on the main track.

This has been a very long winter, just ask Trevor McCarthy.

McCarthy, the leading rider in Maryland, broke his right wrist during the gallop-out following a race at Laurel Park on Dec. 20. He will resume riding Thursday at Gulfstream Park, where he has three mounts.

“The last couple of months have been some of the most boring in my life,” McCarthy said. “I did some nice things. I visited my family in Florida. I went to upstate New York and visited my grandparents, but it’s been hard.”

Trainer Jeff Bonde said that El Camino Real Derby winner Metaboss is set to fly to Kentucky on March 17 for his appearance in the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on March 21.

“We’ll have all our work done before then,” said Bonde, who has given the colt a pair of easy five-furlong works since his El Camino Real victory on Feb. 14. Metaboss went in 1:02.80 on Feb. 26 and 1:00.80 on March 5.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A tight photo for the win in the eighth race Friday at Gulfstream had some fans howling afterward, and who could blame them?

At first glance, it appeared that Palace of Nowhere, a 73-1 shot, had narrowly defeated Stroke Play, the 11-10 favorite in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Even if Ami’s Flatter doesn’t make it to the Kentucky Derby, there’s another prestigious race awaiting him.

Second to Carpe Diem last weekend in the Tampa Bay Derby, Ami’s Flatter is an Ontario-bred colt who is eligible for the biggest race in Canada, the Queen’s Plate on July 5. Ami’s Flatter is based at the Palm Meadows training center, a one-hour drive north of Gulfstream Park.