1.   And at the other end of the country, Awesome Again just won the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga after outrunning Silver Charm in a stakes race at Churchill Downs.

2.   And they were poised to take their first steps on the road to the derby in stakes races Sunday on both coasts.

3.   And those who excel are often thrown directly into stakes races against precocious contemporaries.

4.   Bailey rode in nine major stakes races, from Friday night at the Meadowlands through Sunday afternoon at Belmont Park, and lost all nine.

5.   A stakes race at Belmont Park could wait.

6.   A week later, he was back at Portland Meadows and won a stakes race by six lengths.

7.   After a victory in a minor stakes race at Goodwood in Britain, he flew to Toronto and captured the Canadian International at Woodbine.

8.   Afternoon Deelites is now unbeaten in four starts -- three in stakes races -- and is scheduled to race twice more before heading to Churchill Downs in May.

9.   After the Saratoga meet, Windsor Castle had two seconds and a win in three stakes races at Belmont and Aqueduct.

10.   But a contributing factor in the anemic turnout was the brutal competition from stakes races around the country.