Straight No Chaser, the champion sprinter of 2024, will miss the main sprint of the upcoming Del Mar summer meeting – the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on July 26 – but is under consideration for the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs on Aug. 23.

Straight No Chaser, a 6-year-old who has won 7 of 12 starts, had mixed form in two $2 million races at six furlongs in the Middle East earlier this year. He won the Grade 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia in February, but was eighth of 11 in the Grade 1 Golden Shaheen in Dubai on April 5.

Preparations for opening day of a race meeting takes many forms.

For track announcer Larry Collmus, who will describe the action at the Del Mar summer meeting that begins on Friday, there is the daily behind-the-scenes approach of marking a program page on an iPad with the colors of silks to better identify runners.

California racing cruises into cool, coastal Del Mar on Friday, and it will be nice to escape the inland heat at Santa Anita, where most horses and horsemen have been holed up since autumn. Trainer Richard Mandella looks forward to the change.

“I’ve always loved going to Del Mar, especially now that we’re [at Santa Anita] so long and it gets so hot and dry,” Mandella said this week. “But once you’re at Del Mar for [seven] weeks, you kind of miss Santa Anita and you can’t wait to get back.”

Two horses, Neoequos and Gunmetal, drop in class from Grade 1 competition, but maybe the right horse for the Jersey Shore Stakes on Friday at Monmouth Park is the colt with “1s” all over his past performances.

Donut God has led at every point of call, including the finish, in the two starts he’s made, and returning from a layoff of more than seven months, Donut God stands a decent chance of doing so again in the $100,000 Jersey Shore, a six-furlong dirt race restricted to 3-year-olds.

Repo Rocks, a hard-knocking 7-year-old gelding, will switch surfaces for his return to stakes company Friday at Colonial Downs. The two-time graded stakes winner has done all of his best running on dirt, but trainer Jamie Ness believes he can handle state-restricted turf rivals in the $125,000 Edward P. Evans Stakes.

“It’s not the strongest field for a stakes race, and he’s been running against really good horses in New York and around,” Ness said. “I know the surface isn’t ideal, but I hope his class will prevail.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Time is running out for racing over Woodbine’s fabled main turf course, which will shut down for approximately one year beginning in late August when re-sodding begins on a large portion of it.

There are three $25,000 main turf claimers on Friday’s seven-race card, beginning in the second with a nonwinners-of-three route for fillies and mares around one turn. Bravo Kate looks like the one to beat in her second appearance of the year.

Ohio-bred 2-year-olds get their first chance to strut their stuff Friday at Belterra Park. There are four stakes on the program for Ohio-bred or -accredited runners, including the first stakes this year for the juvenile divisions: the $75,000 Jim Morgan Memorial Tah Dah Stakes for fillies and the $75,000 Hoover Stakes, both at 5 1/2 furlongs.

Friday’s richest showdown at Emerald Downs, a six-furlong, $20,000 claiming race for fillies and mares, features a pair of curious class-droppers in Kristin Lee and Miss Dynamic.

A 4-year-old filly trained by Tim McCanna, Kristin Lee closed her marvelous 2024 campaign with two straight wins, the last of which came in a conditioned allowance at Pleasanton to finish the year with a 7-5-1-0 record. McCanna had high hopes for her season debut at Emerald, but Kristin Lee hopped out of the gate, veered way outside, and finished last of nine with Francisco Duran up.

Deana Echols, the longtime executive secretary of the Arkansas Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Horsemen’s Association, died on May 11. Her death was confirmed by Terri Hoffrogge, who is now the ATBHA’s executive secretary. Echols was 76.

Echols, who grew up in racing, was a constant in the ATBHA offices located near the stable gate at Oaklawn. She managed the ATBHA, organized its annual banquet, and also helped organize the banquet put on by the Racetrack Chaplaincy of Arkansas.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen won the Lone Star Park training title for the 18th time in his career Sunday, winning 33 races at the 41-date meet. Lone Star is a home track for Asmussen, who lives in nearby Arlington, Texas.

Karl Broberg, another resident of Arlington, won the owners’ title for a track-record ninth time. His stable, End Zone Athletics, won 22 races. Lone Star’s leading rider was Ramon Vazquez, who won 55 races during the meet.