Private Terms

Today: Spartan Cat and Just Call Me Carl are co-favorites in the Private Terms Stakes, a 1 1/8 -mile event for 3-year-olds with a $50,000-added purse.Spartan Cat, owned by Marathon Farm, crashed the stakes ranks in his fourth try after finishing second in the Ambernash, Miracle Wood and Horatius.After winning the Dancing Count Stakes, Just Call Me Carl finished third as the beaten favorite to Spartan Cat in the Herat.Tomorrow: Eight 3-year-old fillies have been entered for the Wide Country Stakes, a $50,000-added event to be run at 1 1/8 miles.

The Maryland Jockey Club announced that it will rename the Hirsch Jacobs Stakes in honor of longtime Pimlico Race Course general manager Charles John "Chick" Lang , who died Thursday at 83 of natural causes. The Grade III sprint will be run on Preakness Day, May 15. Laurel Park: Hagerstown native Rick Dutrow 's Dont Blame the Cat is the 6-5 favorite in today's $70,000 Private Terms Stakes for 3-year-olds. The rest of the field is Plantation (3-1), Regal Warrior (5-1)

Chip's Dancer, regarded as one of the top 3-year-olds in Maryland, will carry 117 pounds in today's $75,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes at Pimlico. Chip's Dancer is undefeated in four starts this year, highlighted by victories in the Private Terms and Goss L. Stryker stakes.In addition to Chip's Dancer, with jockey Clarence "Jo Jo" Ladner aboard, the 1 1/8 -mile race also has attracted Smarten Up Dummy, Onyxly's Empire, Dynamic Brush and Wouldliketobe.Today's 12-race card includes simulcast wagering on the Grade I, $500,000 Santa Anita Derby and a pair of Grade II stakes from Aqueduct, the $200,000 Gotham Stakes for 3-year-olds and the $100,000 Bed o' Roses.

Gimmeawink saved ground in a stalking position before swinging out, surging to the lead and drawing away to win the $50,000 Miracle Wood Stakes over a group of locally based Triple Crown nominees yesterday at Laurel Park. The 3-year-old colt, trained by Tim Ritchey, was given a strong ride by Jeremy Rose. Gimmeawink finished 1 1/4 lengths clear of a late-rallying Penobscot Bay. Gators and Bears was third. The winner completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1 minute, 43.07 seconds and paid $6.80. "I didn't think the horse could go long off his most recent sprint, but both the horse and the trainer proved me wrong," Rose said.

LAUREL -- The third and last time Haymaker met Colonel Hill, a big buildup resulted in a letdown, as Forry Cow How stormed past both to win the Star de Naskra Stakes.Since that Jan. 1 meeting, Haymaker and Colonel Hill have won impressively, and both have trained well. They're the likely favorites in a field of nine 3-year-olds in today's $50,000-added Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Race Course.The Private Terms is a prelude to Maryland's only significant Triple Crown prep -- the $175,000 Tesio Stakes two weeks later at Pimlico Race Course.

Forry Cow How, one of the state's leading Preakness-age colts, will undergo an extensive physical examination at the New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa., today to try to determine the cause of his recent lameness.The horse was expected to start as one of the favorites along with Haymaker and Colonel Hill last Sunday in the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel, but was scratched from the race when he turned up sore.The horse was X-rayed on Sunday "but the X-rays were clean," said his owners, Binnie and Eddie Houghton.

Run Alden gets a new jockey when he takes on favored Looming and seven other horses tomorrow in the $200,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.Donnie Miller Jr. replaces Allen Stacy, who was on the horse when he finished a disappointing fourth three weeks ago in the Private Terms Stakes.The Tesio heads the 12-race "Maryland Spring Breeders' Challenge" card, which includes four stakes worth $325,000 restricted to state breds.At Pimlico yesterday, the stewards fined veterinarian James Stewart $2,000 for administering the wrong pre-race medication to five horses last week.

Laurel Race Course is dug out after last weekend's blizzard and is scheduled to re-open today for racing."The last of the snow was removed from the racing strip yesterday and track superintendent John Passero feels confident the surface will be OK today," said publicist Craig Sculos.Horses have not trained over the strip since last Friday.Sculos added that the parking lots are clear "and we're all set to go."The Private Terms Stakes, which was canceled last weekend, has been rescheduled for Saturday.

LAUREL -- Donnie Miller knows it's a wide country. Yesterday, he wanted badly to beat Wide Country.But a bid from Ritchie Trail -- Miller's mount in the $75,000 Jameela Stakes at Laurel Race Course -- fell a head shy of catching heavily favored Wide Country, and Miller's farewell ride was a narrow loser.Miller is making the 3,000-mile, cross-country flight today to San Francisco and the northern California circuit, where he will begin riding regularly after 10 years as a Maryland standout.

Joe Devereux has found a new home in California.Most of the trainers who left Maryland to spend the winter at warm-weather tracks soon will return for the Pimlico spring meet, which begins next Tuesday.But Devereux won't be among them.The Howard County-born horseman said yesterday that he plans to stay in California and race his seven-horse string there for the rest of the year."I like the challenge," said Devereux, 41. "The horses I have right now are holding their own and each of my four owners is making money.