Horse Racing News by Steve Andersen

Dakota Phone showed what he can do on his best day with a 37-1 upset in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6. The problem is Dakota Phone does not string those performances together very often.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has two chances to win the 2,000th race of his career at Hollywood Park on Thursday.

Santa Anita's newly installed dirt track is scheduled to open for training Monday, the completion of a project that ends a troubled three-year period with synthetic racing surfaces at the historic track.

Haimish Hy won the first stakes of his career in the El Cajon Stakes at Del Mar with an outside rally through the stretch, and then topped that performance in Sunday's $250,000 Hollywood Derby.

Eight weeks after she inherited the lead and held on to finish third in the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Hollywood Park, Gypsy's Warning was the beneficiary of a perfect trip in Friday's $250,000 Matriarch Stakes.

Court Vision is the only starter in Saturday's $250,000 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park who ran in the Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs earlier this month.

When Wasted Tears came to California for the first time in August, she won the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes by a nose at Del Mar, the smallest margin of victory in her 17-race career.

Sebastian Flyte will start in Sunday's $250,000 Hollywood Derby, and this time trainer Ben Cecil had no trouble finding a jockey well in advance. Joel Rosario, who through Sunday led the jockey's standings at the fall meeting, has the mount.

The injured jockey Garrett Gomez returns to riding on a regular basis in Southern California on Sunday, and will ride Haimish Hy in the $250,000 Hollywood Derby that day.

Premier Pegasus will earn respect grudgingly. He remained unbeaten after three races with a front-running win in Saturday's $100,000 Hollywood Prevue Stakes, but was not favored despite a stakes win over this track last month.