ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Up With the Birds, trained by Malcolm Pierce, will be looking to use Sunday’s $150,000 Marine Stakes as his stepping-stone to the $1 million Queen’s Plate.

But the Marine, an open race for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, has attracted a salty field that includes American-breds Winning Cause, Five Iron, and Ghost Hunter.

“The Plate Trial would have been easier,” said Pierce, noting that the June 9 Plate Trial is restricted to Canadian-breds.

“But we’re not looking for ‘easy,’ we’re looking for the right timing.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Charlie LoPresti said he is seriously considering the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap on the final weekend of the Churchill Downs spring meet as the next race for Wise Dan, the 2012 Horse of the Year who is unbeaten in two starts this year.

The $150,000 Firecracker, scheduled for a mile on turf, is set for June 29.

MIAMI – The local sprint division, which is already loaded with the likes of Trinniberg, Jackson Bend, and Bahamian Squall on the scene, could get even stronger if things continue to progress well with the fragile but extremely talented Trickmeister, who has been in training at Calder with Allan Hunter since early April.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Pedro Alvarado is no stranger to the winner’s enclosure at Hastings. After all, beginning in 1994 he won 1,008 races riding here. He had a different vantage point when he greeted Yes He’s Trouble following his win in a $17,500 conditional claimer last Monday, however. It was the first winner for Alvarado as a trainer and he was happy after going 0 for 10 since he saddled his first horse at the meet on April 13.

ELMONT, N.Y. - No trainer plays the claiming game in New York better these days than David Jacobson, a point he drove home Thursday winning four races at Belmont Park, all with horses making their first start off the claim.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Class drops could hold the key to the Grade 3, $150,000 Matron, a 1 1/8-mile Polytrack race for older fillies and mares Saturday at Arlington Park.

Ausus made her most recent start in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes, finishing an even fifth behind Centre Court, who could be the best female grass horse in the country right now.

Imposing Grace, meanwhile, hooked up with the likes of Authenticity, On Fire Baby, and Believe You Can when she finished sixth in the Grade 2 La Troienne Stakes.

One mare who hasn’t raced in five months and another who just ran last weekend figure to vie for favoritism in Saturday’s $75,000 My Juliet Stakes for older female sprinters at Parx Racing.

Winning Image, who won last year’s My Juliet, when it was worth $150,000, and Withgreatpleasure, who failed in her bid for back-to-back Grade 2 victories in the May 18 Vagrancy Hanidicap at Belmont Park, are the prime contenders in a field of six going six furlongs on dirt.

Called to Serve, who was developing into a solid player in the handicap division, will be out until late fall after injuring a splint bone, trainer Nick Canani said.

Called to Serve hasn’t run since finishing third behind Game On Dude and Clubhouse Ride in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in early March. In subsequent training, Called to Serve injured a splint bone and had a “small procedure” to remove part of the bone, Canani said.

The 6-year-old mare Down Town Allen, who dominated the richest race for West Virginia-bred older fillies and mares that Charles Town offers last fall, and the youngster Jax and Jill, the best 2-year-old statebred filly on the grounds last season, will meet for the first time in Saturday night’s $50,000 Fancy Buckles Stakes.

The 4 1/2-furlong race, restricted to West Virginia-bred fillies and mares, drew a field of seven.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Nates Mineshaft has accomplished more than any of his nine opponents in the Grade 3, $150,000 Hanshin Cup, and the race’s second-most accomplished horse, Mister Marti Gras, proved no match for Nates Mineshaft when they met twice last year. But that is painting the Hanshin in very broad strokes, and any bettor considering taking a shot with Nates Mineshaft, the 5-2 morning-line favorite, would do well to consider the finer points.