Jockey Fabio Arguello Jr., on Friday was traveling from his home in Louisville, Ky., to Texas to make something of a fresh career start. In a major circuit move, he plans to ride the remainder of the Lone Star Park meet that runs into July and continue to remain in the region for the Remington Park meet in Oklahoma City and the Oaklawn Park season in Arkansas.

AUBURN, Wash. – Tom Wenzel has reached a delicious sweet spot in his training career. While Wenzel, 47, probably won’t threaten for the training title at Emerald Downs this summer, he boasts at least one bona-fide stakes runner in every division and could run away with the more important earnings title. Beyond that, Wenzel could threaten Doris Harwood’s track record of 12 stakes victories in a single meeting.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Royal Lahaina, the longest shot on the board, came from just off the pace and then out-battled Sure Route down the stretch to win the $100,000 Mariensky Stakes on a sloppy, sealed track on Friday at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. - After 3 1/2 inches of rain pelted Belmont Park over a 24-hour period, the main track was to begin as muddy and sealed, but track officials are hopeful the surface could be fast by post time for the 145^th Belmont Stakes.

“I’m pretty confident that we’ll be wet fast by then,” said Glen Kozak, the New York Racing Association’s vice president of facilities and racing surfaces. “If we get real lucky, we’ll be fast.”

First post for Saturday’s 13-race card is 11:35 a.m. Eastern. Post time for the Belmont is 6:36 p.m.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The first running of the Redondo Beach Stakes in 2006 was won by Singalong, a Paddy Gallagher-trained European moving up from an allowance win.

When the eighth and final Redondo Beach at Betfair Hollywood Park is run Sunday, the one-mile turf race will have a familiar ring. Here again comes Gallagher, with another European import moving up in class at the top of her game.

Appealing seeks her third straight win in a surprisingly large field in the $70,000 Redondo Beach during the final spring meet at Hollywood.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Peter Miller is contesting the voided claim of Include the Cat here on June 2. Miller filed a complaint with the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday, alleging that state veterinarian Tim Grande had a “conflict of interest” when he placed the filly on the veterinarian’s list.

Dr. Diamonds Prize won the prep for the $100,000 Satin and Lace on May 12, and trainer Mark Hubley is confident she will win the stakes itself Sunday at Presque Isle Downs.

“She is back to 100 percent now, and I feel great about how she will do Sunday,” Hubley said.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Horsemen playing the claiming game constantly keep in mind a guiding principle: Run a horse for more than he’s worth and he will lose, but run a horse for what he’s worth and you might lose the horse. Shelters exist – safe havens.

One is age. An 8- or 9-year-old can repeatedly win at the same claiming level and not get claimed. “This can’t last,” rival horsemen assume. Another is price. Claims for $80,000 or $100,000 are rare. Even if a horse seems worth the money, he might not be by the time he has managed to earn it back.

One Quick Eagle can lay claim to being the fastest 2-year-old Quarter Horse stabled at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico – at least until the Grade 1, $750,000 Ruidoso Downs Futurity is run on Sunday. She emerged as the fastest qualifier for the 350-yard race following a slate of 25 trials last month, and for the finale figures to be a slight favorite as she attempts to run her record to 2 for 2.

AUBURN, Wash. – E Z Kitty and Exclusive Diva, who stand head and shoulders above the rest of the filly and mare division at Emerald Downs, will renew their budding rivalry Sunday in the $50,000 Washington State Legislators Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs. Only four others were entered to face the likely favorites, with Castinette Dancer, down from Hastings in Vancouver, British Columbia, offering the best chance for an upset.