NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Ronny Werner on Tuesday said he may give Badge of Silver an extra week until his next start and run him in the $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 12 instead of the $500,000 Illinois Derby at Hawthorne on April 5.

Both races are at 1 1/8 miles and would serve as Badge of Silver's final prep for the May 3 Kentucky Derby. The Illinois Derby had been considered the next stop for Badge of Silver, but Werner said the colt may benefit from an extra week in light of recent throat surgery.

NEW ORLEANS - Taking a stand against No Jacket Required in Fair Grounds's featured race Thursday may require a leap of faith. There are two opponents who may be better, but between them they have just one start in the last 18 months.

No Jacket Required probably will be favored in the ninth race, which is for second-level allowance horses or $40,000 claimers at about 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. Though he steps up in class after a first-level allowance win in his last start, No Jacket Required presents seven rivals with a formidable target.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - New York Hero, scratched from Sunday's $200,000 Gotham at Aqueduct, will run in Saturday's $500,000 Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park.

New York Hero drew post 10 for the Gotham - a major concern given the short run into the first of two turns - and his connections decided they would rather run in the Grade 2 Lane's End, a 1 1/8-mile race.

"We hated the post and we can run for more money in Kentucky," said Jennifer Pedersen, New York Hero's trainer.

Lion Tamer and Champali are the most accomplished 3-year-olds likely to run in Turfway Park's signature race, the $500,000 Lane's End Stakes on Saturday.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Cole Norman reached a personal milestone of 1,000 career victories Saturday, and this week, will likely break the record for trainer wins in a season at Oaklawn Park.

Norman, 34, enters the week six wins from breaking trainer David Vance's record of 50 set in 1974.

"It would be a nice accomplishment to look back on," said Norman, who has six horses in Wednesday. "The whole team wants to do it."

ALBANY, Calif. - If Sanibel Sunset, the likely favorite in Wednesday's Golden Gate Fields feature race, were in another barn, she might have run in Saturday's $75,000 California Oaks.

She hadn't run badly when a troubled third to Oaks favorite Lucky Sabre two races back. She rebounded from that loss to win a $40,000 starter allowance race at a mile in her next start. On Wednesday, she meets four rival 3-year-old fillies in a $25,000 optional claimer at a mile.

Patience is a way of life in Art Sherman's barn.

* Believe Im Special ($8.60) overtook pacesetter Fine Story late for a neck win in the $50,000 Cajun Express for statebreds Sunday night at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.

The Deputy Is Home ($9.40) needed just about the entire length of Laurel Park's stretch to finally catch front-running Sassy Hound.

The Deputy Is Home ran down Sassy Hound and earned a half-length victory in the $60,000 Endless Surprise Stakes.

The Deputy Is Home completed six furlongs in 1:08.97 to win his first stakes race.

At the sixteenth pole it looked like Snake Mountain ($3) wouldn't get there in time, but he dug in tenaciously to win Sunday's $80,975 Stymie by a nose over Classic Endeavor.

It was Snake Mountain's fifth consecutive win and his fourth in an Aqueduct stakes race.

OCALA, Fla. - Edgar Prado rode three of the four winners of the OBS Championship Stakes series on Monday's all-stakes program at the Ocala Training Center.

Prado's streak began in the $50,000 OBS Sprint for 3 year-old fillies at six furlongs when he guided Shot Gun Favorite to a neck victory over the pace-making Hope for Love.

The second race, the $50,000 OBS Sprint for 3-year-old males at six furlongs, was won by last year's Sapling Stakes winner, Valid Video. With Prado aboard, he pulled away to a 3 1/2-length victory.