HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A good break will be key for Winnemac Avenue on Thursday when he starts in the eighth race at Oaklawn Park.

“Hopefully we can get him out there running because to get in a good position with him you need to be able to get him in a rhythm,” said trainer Jimmy DiVito.

The allowance is for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles and carries a claiming option of $75,000. It comes on a card that was added to make up for races lost to inclement weather earlier in the meet. A field of eight has signed on, including Grade 1 winner Get Her Number.

Who was the best North American-based 3-year-old turf horse of 2024? Probably Trikari, whose Beyer Speed Figures of 98 and 96 were the two best stakes numbers among that subset of horses. Truth is, the division lacked depth and standouts as evidenced by the fact that three horses in Keeneland’s featured seventh race Thursday defeated Trikari in the Bryan Station Stakes last October.

Those are Depiction, Herchee, and Evade, and they’re among an overflow field in the Thursday feature, a second-level allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Friday’s nine-race program at Santa Anita will include a carryover of $68,635 in the $2 pick six.

The carryover was clinched when Recycleyourheart led throughout Sunday’s 10th race for maiden claimers, returning $23.60.

On Friday, the pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific. The pool of new money in the pick six may exceed $500,000.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Dr. Venkman, winner of the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar last July, is on schedule for his first start since August in the Grade 3 Triple Bend Stakes at seven furlongs on May 31, trainer Mark Glatt said Sunday afternoon.

Earlier on Sunday, Dr. Venkman worked five furlongs in 1:01, continuing a steady pattern of workouts since mid-March.

Dr. Venkman, a 5-year-old gelding by Ghostzapper, has not raced since he finished fourth by three lengths as the 11-10 favorite in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar last August.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The South American Group 1 winner Richi is thriving in the United States and part of an extensive team of older fillies and mares trained by Bob Baffert.

Richi was a game second to stablemate Cavalieri in a fast running of the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on March 8 at Santa Anita and won the most prestigious race of her American career in Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles at the same venue.

Richi led throughout the $200,000 Santa Maria and won by 4 1/2 lengths over stablemate Splendora.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The final three-day stand of this Keeneland spring meeting will include the usual races to be leading trainer and jockey, but also a battle to be the track’s leading trainer of all time.

George “Rusty” Arnold II, a mainstay at this track for decades, won a pair of races Saturday, including the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes, to tie Hall of Famer Bill Mott for the all-time title with 307 victories each. Both have entries throughout this three-day run, with Arnold’s first chance to break the record coming with a live longshot in a maiden special weight on Wednesday.

Joey Muscles and Latch the Hatch, who have proven well-matched in two previous meetings, will square off for a third time this season and likely vie for favoritism in Thursday’s $43,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. They are two of seven Florida-bred 3-year-olds who were entered to go seven furlongs over the main track in the seventh of eight races on the card.

PHOENIX – The local talent is front and center at Turf Paradise on Thursday, as the track celebrates statebreds with a stakes quintet. The features, all for $40,000 and Arizona-breds, are the Gene Fleming Breeders’ Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles (race 6), the Ann Owens Distaff for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at six furlongs (race 8), the Dwight D.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Michelle Giangiulio hopes She’s Our Tiz can begin her 3-year-old campaign on Thursday the same way she kicked off her 2-year-old season – with a win sprinting over Aqueduct’s turf course.

She’s Our Tiz is one of many contenders in a full field of New York-bred fillies and mares entered in a first-level allowance scheduled for six furlongs over the outer turf course.

The lament of equine veterinarians and television producers is the same: Horses can’t talk. In an ideal world, equine veterinarians get around that limitation by relying on body language, physical examinations, and diagnostic testing. For television producers, there’s no such well of knowledge to create an intimate human-horse connection.