At age 78, trainer Dennis Ward is coming out of retirement.

Ward, the father of trainer Wesley Ward, will start his first horse in nearly 19 months Wednesday when he runs Bahamian Moon, a 7-year-old mare, against males in the five-furlong turf sprint allowance/optional-claiming feature at Tampa Bay Downs.

Bahamian Moon will be Ward’s first starter since May 5, 2023, when Great Britain finished second at Tampa.

Ward said he retired because of the way the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, racing’s new regulatory body, was operating.

A visit Tom Amoss paid to the Fair Grounds backstretch as a young adolescent led, in the end, to his career as a horse trainer. The visit happened because Amoss’s friend’s father, Albert Stall Sr., served as commissioner of the Louisiana Racing Commission and owned horses. Amoss and the friend, trainer Al Stall Jr., have competed against each other for decades. Thursday, the New Orleans natives each start a plausible winner of the $275,000 Thanksgiving Classic.

The Thanksgiving Classic used to be called the Thanksgiving Handicap, traditional the opening day feature.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Aside from a slightly earlier opening, the Gulfstream Park Championship meet will have a very familiar look to it when kicking off at 11:15 a.m. on Thanksgiving with an eight-race program. The feature is the $115,000 Wait a While for 2-year-old fillies on the turf, the first of 66 stakes to be decided here through the end of the session on March 30.

Jamie Ness thinks Spikezone is ready for his first foray into stakes competition.

“If he’s won 10 this year, then it’s time,” quipped Ness.

Spikezone hasn’t been headed in his last five starts and looms a strong contender in Wednesday’s $75,000 Let’s Give Thanks for 3-year-olds and up at 6 1/2 furlongs at Parx Racing.

Spikezone began his career for Ness, who lost him for $50,000 via the claim box before immediately taking him back for $40,000 out of a fifth-place finish in his final start of 2022.

Quickick, the 2-year-old filly who rallied steadily from last to finish third last out in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, likely won’t make her return to the races until sometime in March.

Tom Amoss, who trains Quickick for Gregory Tramontin, said Quickick has been turned out for a winter rest and won’t return to serious training until Jan. 1.

Seven fillies and mares in a second-level allowance with an $80,000 claiming option contest the featured ninth race Wednesday at Churchill Downs, all well and good, but, in the end, will be a secondary storyline on this card since a horse named Barnes contests race 7.

Killian Leonard came from Europe to begin riding in Kentucky this fall. After a good start, he has the opportunity to ride his first stakes race in this country on closing weekend at Churchill Downs, and then plans to base his tack at Turfway Park when the circuit moves to that track on Dec. 4.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Sahin Civaci had a day last Saturday at Woodbine, winning six races, including the Shady Well Stakes on Pop Idol. Can the meet’s runaway leading rider get Mrs. C back to the winner’s circle in Thursday’s featured Ontario-sired allowance/$40,000 claimer?

Mrs. C took an eternity to earn her diploma, finally turning the trick in her 19th start when favored with Civaci taking over Sept. 7. Three weeks later, she wound up fourth after a wide trip against nonwinners-of-two Ontario-sired allowance types and $40,000 claimers.

Avana will looking for her seventh consecutive win Tuesday when she takes on graded winner V V’s Dream in the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks.

The 1 1/16-mile race is one of seven stakes on the Land of Enchantment card, worth a cumulative $1.1 million.

Avana is part of a field that has been scratched down from 11 to nine with the defections of Grade 2 winner Chatalas and stakes winner Arctic Breeze.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sunday is the final day of the Sunshine meet at Gulfstream Park, which not only means the opening of the 2024-25 Championship session is right around the corner, on Thanksgiving Day, but that bettors will also have another opportunity at a mandatory Rainbow 6 payout. The pool will begin with a carryover just north of $200,000, if the popular gimmick is not hit on Friday or Saturday, and which should grow above the $2 million mark by the time the final ticket is punched.