Sunlit Song, the 2023 Texas-bred of the year, has been retired and will have a race named in his honor at Sam Houston Race Park, the Houston track announced.

Sunlit Song won 19 of 50 starts for career earnings of $806,579. The 10-year-old gelding by My Golden Song was bred by Carolyn Barnett, and raced for Barnett and Becky Harding. Sunlit Song won eight stakes, including two runnings of the Richard King Turf at Sam Houston.

Sunlit Song was retired last month, according to a press release from Sam Houston.

Sam Spence, who has been the chaplain at Lone Star Park since the track opened in 1997, said last month that he would be retiring on Aug. 1. He is 86.

Spence served as executive director of the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America for six years in the 1980s and later was the chaplain at the now-shuttered Trinity Meadows near Ft. Worth, Texas. He is an ordained minister and has authored several books on the topic of faith, some against the backdrop of racing.

Insensitive has won back-to-back stakes at her Prairie Meadows base and now could be headed to Kentucky.

Trainer Doug Anderson said Tuesday that the winner of the recent Iowa Distaff is under serious consideration for the $200,000 Groupie Doll, a one-mile race for fillies and mares at Ellis Park on Aug. 10.

“It would be nice get some black type from Kentucky,” Anderson said. “That would help her on down the road.”

Auspicious debuts by the colt Desert Gate and filly Himika this spring at Santa Anita suggest trainer Bob Baffert’s stranglehold on California 2-year-old racing is likely to continue this summer at Del Mar.

Baffert’s 2025 juvenile roster includes at least two dozen colts purchased at auction for roughly $18 million total, with more than a dozen fillies purchased for $5 million total. No wonder Baffert has won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity 18 times and the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante 10 times – he gets the best stock and gets the most from them.

Purses are higher, the stable area is near capacity, and Friday’s opening day drew more than 100 entrants for 10 races.

There are early indications Del Mar will launch its popular summer meeting with a strong three-day weekend.

The famous track, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean north of San Diego, could do with a successful start after two summers of declines in all-sources handle.

Last year, handle at the summer meeting exceeded $502.9 million, down from more than $527.6 million in 2023. The 2022 meeting had a handle of $579.8 million.

As trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. continues to pick softer spots for the 4-year-old filly Mystic Lake, she will again be heavily favored in the $125,000 Dashing Beauty Stakes at Delaware Park on Thursday.

“She’s doing well,” Joseph said. “This looks like a good spot for her and hopefully, all goes to plan.”

Dazzling Move was the longest shot in the field when she finished second in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps last month in Saratoga. Friday, she could be second choice to likely favorite Raging Sea in the Grade 2, $200,000 Shuvee Stakes at Saratoga.

Dazzling Move set the pace before being passed by Dorth Vader – the second-longest price in the field – in the Ogden Phipps, a race run over a sloppy track that Raging Sea didn’t like, as she checked in third.

Immersive, who started her championship 2-year-old campaign at Saratoga last summer, will look to bounce back from her neck defeat to Take Charge Milady in the Monomoy Girl Stakes when the two meet again in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies.