Tangling with champions was commonplace for Collected in the late summer and fall of 2017.

As a 4-year-old that season, Collected won three stakes, notably the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles at Del Mar, beating Arrogate by a half-length. Arrogate was the champion 3-year-old male of 2016 and later an inductee to racing’s Hall of Fame.

In his following start, Collected bravely chased Gun Runner in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar, only to finish second by 2 1/4 lengths. Gun Runner was named the 2017 Horse of the Year and also is in the Hall of Fame.

Consequences of the 2025 closure of Harris Farms in Coalinga, Calif., as a commercial breeding facility will not be fully known for a few years, but some clues will surface for the state’s breeding industry in coming months.

By any measure, the 330-acre farm’s closure is a loss, but it also is an opportunity for other farms to gain a greater role in the region.

Harris Farms, centrally located, stood nine stallions in 2025 who were bred to 187 mares, or 14.4 percent of the 1,291 bred in the state, according to The Jockey Club’s report of mares bred.

In the six decades since Linda Madsen’s parents bought Milky Way Farm in Temecula, Calif., the property has undergone a few transformations.

For a time, the focus was on Arabian show horses and later cattle before evolving into its current form as a full-service Thoroughbred breeding farm. There are no plans for further revisions.

“It’s been the greatest place to live,” Madsen said in an interview earlier this month. “I wake up and think, ‘How can I be this lucky?’ ”

There is plenty of change going on in the California Thoroughbred industry, with an uncertain racing landscape in the northern sector of the state; the death of major breeder John Harris and the dispersal of his stock, including stallions; and a new horse moving to the state who will factor in the stallion ranks. Remaining as constants in the Golden State are its leading sires, Stay Thirsty and Grazen.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Horseplayers will be given an early Christmas present on Sunday when Gulfstream Park offers a mandatory payout of the Rainbow 6 pool, which figures to have a carryover of nearly $300,000 and a final jackpot estimated in the vicinity of $3 million if not taken down on either Friday or Saturday.

Roll On Big Joe, who swept in from Kentucky to win the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes over opening weekend at Oaklawn, will be back, according to trainer Bob Hess Jr. The horse, who last weekend had been cross-entered in the Holiday Cheer on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park, won his fourth stakes of the year in the Ring the Bell.

Many consider the riding colony assembled for the Oaklawn Park meet that opened last weekend one of the deepest in recent memory. The lineup of more than 40 jockeys includes such prominent names as Luis Saez, Joel Rosario, Rafael Bejarano, Ricardo Santana Jr., and Jaime Torres.

Heading into the second week of the meet, Ramon Vazquez and Cristian Torres sat atop the local standings with five wins each, while Francisco Arrieta is hot on their heels with four wins. The men have all been dominant players the last several years at Oaklawn.

The older male turf-sprint stakes schedule at Fair Grounds launches Jan. 17 with the Duncan Kenner, and they’re warming up for it in the featured seventh race Sunday.

Four $250,000 stakes – the Prairie Bayou, Holiday Inaugural, My Charmer, and Holiday Cheer – should all go with sizable fields and have drawn big names after being rescheduled for Sunday at Turfway Park.

Touchuponastar, the standout Louisiana-bred 6-year-old, has returned to regular training after his ridiculously easy Dec. 13 win in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic. Where and when he races next remains to be decided.

Jake Delhomme, the principal in Set-Hut, Touchuponastar’s owner, already has done plenty of thinking about the gelding’s near-term future. He’ll do plenty more.

“There’s a lot to think about,” Delhomme said Friday morning. “I don’t look at that as a burden. I look at it as a privilege.”