HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Carlos Martin is hoping Glorious Boy can earn his second straight stakes win and that he can do so in a lot less dramatic fashion when facing nine other 3-year-olds Thursday at Gulfstream Park in the $175,000 Dania Beach. The one-mile Dania Beach is the second of two 3-year-old stakes on the 10-race holiday card that also features the $175,000 Cash Run for 3-year-old fillies going a mile over the main track.

For more than two years, Buccherino has benefited from an astounding home-field advantage at Parx Racing, where he has won 6 of 7 starts for trainer Alfredo Velazquez. He will return to those familiar confines in the $75,000 Blitzen Stakes on Wednesday.

“I think he’s going to do good because he likes Parx,” Velazquez said. “The competition isn’t as tough, and I like the seven-eighths for him.”

Lemon Zest is an appealing choice in the $135,000 Oaklawn Sports overnight stakes at Oaklawn Park.

The new race is for newly turned 4-year-old fillies who have never won a stakes other than statebred and it will be run over 1 1/16 miles.

“I’d say it’s a unique condition being limited to 4-year-olds only on New Year’s Day,” said Brad Cox, who trains Lemon Zest.

The rare and welcome age restriction for runners now considered older horses comes on a day when Northern Hemisphere-born Thoroughbreds all turn a year older for administrative purposes.

ARCADIA, Calif. – There was little to celebrate in the career of the filly Ambaya until the stretch run of Sunday’s Grade 1 American Oaks.

Ignored at 12-1 in a field of 11, Ambaya closed from fifth to win by a half-length. Not bad for a filly still eligible for a first-condition allowance race.

While Ambaya was the seventh choice, she was held in high regard by trainer Jonathan Thomas and owner and breeder George Strawbridge Jr.

Trainer Joe Orseno could have a big say in Wednesday’s late pick five at Tampa Bay Downs, one that begins the day with a $63,841 carryover after the wager went unsolved last Saturday.

Orseno has runners in three of the five legs of the wager and believes all three have strong chances to win.

The late pick five, which has a 50-cent minimum denomination, requires bettors to select the winners of the final five races (5 through 9) on Wednesday’s nine-race card.

Sassy C W won one of the first stakes for 2-year-old fillies in 2025. She’ll try to win one of the first stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 2026.

The $125,000 Gowell Stakes on Thursday at Turfway Park is one of three stakes on New Year’s Day for newly turned sophomores of this season, along with the open Dania Beach at a mile on turf at Gulfstream Park and the Cash Run Stakes for fillies at a mile on dirt at Gulfstream.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Antonio Fresu will be sidelined for an undetermined period after suffering a broken toe on his left foot in an incident in Sunday’s seventh race at Santa Anita, according to his agent, Ron Anderson.

Fresu was scheduled to discuss treatment options with doctors on Monday, Anderson said. There is a possibility the injury could require surgery.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Sunday’s opening day of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting drew an announced ontrack crowd of 41,962, the highest since 46,514 attended the first day of the 2016-17 meeting.

Sunday’s figure was slightly higher than the 2024 opening day crowd of 41,562 held on a Thursday. Opening day is typically Dec. 26. Sunday was supposed to be the third day of the current meeting, but the Friday and Saturday programs were canceled over the weekend because of substantial rain last week.