HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn leading trainer Cody Autrey has been a force in the overnight ranks for years. But this season he has more promising young horses than ever before, and on Monday will start Tanzanite Cat in the $150,000 Smarty Jones. The horse is one of two prospects Autrey currently has for the 3-year-old series at Oaklawn. The other is Paganol, an impressive debut winner now targeting the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest on Feb. 17.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

ARCADIA, Calif. – There were no smiles from Ben Cecil when Electric Eddie finished first in a maiden race for 3-year-old California-breds at Santa Anita on Jan. 2. A bumping incident in early stretch with runner-up Oh Billy Billy was foremost on the trainer’s mind.

“I knew he was coming down,” Cecil recalled.

Cecil’s intuition was correct. Electric Eddie, a 1-5 shot in a field of five, was demoted to second after an inquiry.

Although he is 0 for 7, Electric Eddie was second in two stakes around two turns in November.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Noble Moon, the leading 3-year-old contender based in New York, has been taken out of training due to an issue with his right front foot and will not make the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 1, trainer Leah Gyarmati said Saturday.

Gyarmati said that depending on how much time Noble Moon misses, he could perhaps make the Grade 3, $500,000 Gotham Stakes here March 1.

Noble Moon won the Grade 2 Jerome by two lengths here Jan. 4, his second win from three career starts. Gyarmati said the horse came out of the race with an injured foot.

Fire Starter, who rolled to a 10 3/4-length maiden special weight win last month at Laurel, will make his stakes debut Monday in the $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn. He is one of 10 horses in the one-mile race drawn Friday. Coastline, the probable favorite, will break from post 10.

Fire Starter drew post 3, one start following his dominant win Dec. 31. The victory, which came for trainer Tony Dutrow, validated the faith Steve Hobby, the horse’s regular trainer, has in the Tapit colt who had a rocky race one start prior, when pulled up at Churchill.

As a child in Florida, Jose Santos Jr., the son of Hall of Fame jockey Jose Santos, thought one day he might return to Louisville, where his father scored the biggest victory of his career in the 2003 Kentucky Derby aboard Funny Cide.

His dream was to emulate his father and become a jockey. But along the way, a little thing, or rather a big thing – his height – got in the way.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Seemingly armed with one talented 3-year-old sprinter in Germaniac, the Maryland-based trainer Tim Tullock will attempt to find out how good another one of his 3-year-old sprinters is when he ships in Pax Orbis for Monday’s $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes at Aqueduct.

A field of eight was entered for the six-furlong Winkfield, but Alex Inc is cross-entered in an allowance race Sunday at Parx and is likely to run there if the track is good, trainer Butch Reid said.

Goldencents, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita in November, is nearing a return to training following a two-week break at a local farm, trainer Doug O’Neill said.

Goldencents finished seventh in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 30. Following that race, there were discussions between O’Neill and owners Glenn Sorgenstein and Josh Kaplan about starting Goldencents in Saturday’s $200,000 Strub Stakes.

Those plans ended when Goldencents was taken out of training earlier this month.

Shared Belief, a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding 2-year-old of 2013, is tentatively scheduled to have a workout Sunday after missing a workout Jan. 12 because of a grabbed quarter.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Shared Belief could start in the $200,000 Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 8.

“I’m not under any pressure to work him,” Hollendorfer said. “I want to wait until the proper time. I might work him on Sunday.”

Add the colt Hartford to the growing list of 3-year-old prospects whom trainer Todd Pletcher has won with first-time out this winter in Florida. Hartford rolled to a 5 3/4-length victory Thursday going seven furlongs, a performance Barbara Banke, whose Stonestreet Stables owns Hartford, said was a long time in coming.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” she said in the winner’s circle.

Hartford has been one of the most highly regarded of the class of 2014 3-year-olds for Pletcher and Stonestreet, but Pletcher said minor issues prevented him from racing until now.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wildcat Red earned a spot in next Saturday’s Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes with his game second-place finish in the Gulfstream Park Derby. On Friday, trainer Jose Garafolo confirmed Wildcat Red would indeed be entered in the first major Kentucky Derby prep of Gulfstream Park’s meet after watching his star work an easy five furlongs in 1:01.81 shortly after the first renovation break.