To beat a top European miler, trainer Will Walden figured he’d seek advice from a top European trainer.

Shortly after his high-class Rhetorical finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Walden messaged the great Aidan O’Brien. Walden wanted details: How did O’Brien winter horses who had major early-spring goals?

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Publisher will likely make his next start in the Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap, trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday. The 1 1/8-mile race is April 18.

Publisher gained a following last season when, as a maiden, he ran second in the Arkansas Derby. This season, he has developed into the meet’s co-winningest horse, going 3 for 4 at Oaklawn.

“It’s very good to see Publisher having such a good meet,” Asmussen said. “He’ll most likely run in the Oaklawn Handicap.”

Barbadian Runner is back in training and preparing for his highly anticipated 4-year-old debut at Laurel Park. Trainer Henry Walters does not have any firm plans for the seasoned Maryland-bred, but all has gone well in two published workouts since March 29.

“He’s had a couple of easy breezes under his belt, just to get the juices flowing again,” Walters said. “I’ll probably work him again this weekend.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Wonder Mist won the first race of 2026 on this circuit for trainer Wesley Ward, but the 3-year-old gelding spent the remainder of the winter in Kentucky where he made just one start, a second-place finish over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface.

Turf racing will return to Laurel Park on Friday with two races scheduled for fillies and mares on the grass. The track will hold another race on the surface Saturday before expanding to normal operations with five turf races on Sunday.

Many of the Mid-Atlantic region’s most notable turf trainers have been patiently waiting for the surface to reopen at Laurel. Graham Motion has only entered one horse at the track since November, but he has four entered this weekend.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – She worked as a tattoo artist in Puerto Rico, but now Dalila Rivera is attempting to make her imprint in a totally different profession.

Rivera is a jockey, and after a rough start to her stint in New York, things are beginning to turn around for the 27-year-old apprentice. Rivera has won with five of her last seven mounts – including one at Parx – and had the first two-win day of her career last Friday at Aqueduct.

“I’m very happy for this opportunity, and the success in this moment for me is very, very special,” Rivera said. “I feel blessed.”

Albus

Colt by Yaupon – Adream, by Bernardini

Bred in Kentucky by Susan Casner ($320,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Pin Oak Stud)

With the stakes high on the final weekend of major preps for the Kentucky Derby, Albus catapulted into the picture by winning the Grade 2 Wood Memorial. A May foal, he is by a sprinter but from a deep female family with stamina.

Cy Fair defeated males in the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and was an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding 2-year-old filly, garnering several dozen first-place votes. But she has scared no one away as she makes her 3-year-old debut in Friday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Limestone Stakes.

The 5 1/2-furlong Limestone drew an overflow field, with 12 3-year-old fillies permitted to start, plus two also-eligibles. The field includes multiple stakes winner Lennilu, who was beaten by Cy Fair, albeit with an excuse, at the Breeders’ Cup – and five other stakes winners.

The way Autumn Glow is collecting wins in Australia, the filly is drawing comparisons to some of the country’s greatest recent runners.

Autumn Glow has won all 11 of her starts and was 2-5 on Wednesday to win Saturday’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at 1 1/4 miles against males at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

The $3.52 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes was won from 2017-19 by Winx, Australia’s Horse of the Year for four consecutive seasons from 2015-16 to 2018-19. Winx won 37 of 43 starts, including her last 33 races.