The second race at Santa Anita on Thursday was abandoned and declared a no contest after jockey Geovanni Franco was unseated at the start of a one-mile race on the main track, on a section of the track the remaining runners would have traversed in the final yards before the finish.

Flatterwithjewels stumbled and unseated Franco shortly after the start.

The runners were near the end of the backstretch when riders were instructed to pull up their mounts. Track stewards made the decision to abandon the race out of concern over Franco’s condition.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - John Imbriale, who cut back on his announcing duties at the New York Racing Association in the fall of 2022, has now gone into full-blown retirement.

Corposo earned a start in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on Saturday with a narrow win in a maiden race at a mile on March 8 in her two-turn debut.

The $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles will tell owner and breeder Nick Cosato and trainer Peter Eurton where Corposo ranks in California’s 3-year-old filly division, and whether she is good enough to be considered for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 3.

“We know she can get the two turns,” Eurton said on Wednesday. “Now, we’re taking it to another level. We’ll find out a lot.”

Stefano Cherchi, an Italian-born jockey, died earlier this week as a result of injuries sustained in a spill in a race in Australia in March. Cherchi worked briefly as an exercise rider at Santa Anita in the winter of 2022-2023.

Cherchi was 23. He won more than 100 races in Britain, where his career began in 2018.

Cherchi began riding in Australia earlier this year and rode winners in February and March before he was involved in the accident at Canberra Racecourse on March 20. Cherchi sustained a head injury and internal bleeding, according to reports.

Matt Dinerman, the current track announcer at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, has been hired as the new track announcer at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, which opens its meet on May 11.

Dinerman, 31, was the track announcer at Golden Gate Fields in California for six years prior to moving to Oaklawn Park last year. The Oaklawn Park and Monmouth Park meets do not currently overlap.

Sierra Leone versus Dornoch, Round 2, is on for the $1 million Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.

Those two colts met Dec. 2 in the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, where Dornoch rode an inside-speed bias to a narrow victory over Sierra Leone, who rallied to take the lead in the final furlong before losing it again at the wire. While Dornoch’s performance was bias-aided, it also was brave, the colt regaining the lead after contesting a fast pace.

Total handle during Turfway Park’s 70-day race meet that concluded Sunday was up 29.0 percent compared to last year’s 66-day meet, according to figures compiled by Daily Racing Form from Equibase charts.

Total handle was $246.6 million for the meet, which started on Nov. 29, or $3.52 million per day. During the previous meet, total handle was $191.1 million, or $2.90 million per day.