Barnes, a first-out winner from the barn of Triple Crown titan Bob Baffert, was made the 13-1 individual favorite in the second Kentucky Derby pool, behind the perennial top choice in the early pools, the field entry, which closed at 9-5.

Barnes, a $3.2 million 2-year-old purchase, won his debut at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27 by a head. It was the first win by a Baffert-trained horse at Churchill since he was banned by the track shortly after the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The ban was lifted this summer. Baffert has won the Derby a record six times.

Trainer Jonathan Thomas had the best week of his career in California in late November, winning three graded stakes on turf at Del Mar.

The victories are a prelude for his second full-time winter in California in coming months at Santa Anita.

Last winter, Thomas won two races from 22 runners at Santa Anita, but did not win a stakes. Expectations are much higher this time.

DEL MAR, Calif. - With his third consecutive stakes win since mid-July, Formidable Man confirmed his status as the dominant 3-year-old turf male in California with an appealing win in Saturday’s Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar.

The latest victory may lead to a first career start against older horses at Gulfstream Park, in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf on Jan. 25.

“Might have to think about the Pegasus,” trainer Michael McCarthy wrote in a text message on Sunday morning.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When determining in which Breeders’ Cup race to run, the connections of Mullikin chose to cut the Grade 1 winner back to the six furlongs of the Sprint rather than stretch out to the Dirt Mile which, at Del Mar, was contested around two turns.

Coming off four straight victories, including a Grade 1 win in the seven-furlong Forego at Saratoga in August, Mullikin was sent off the 3-1 favorite in the $2 million Sprint. He finished third, three lengths behind Straight No Chaser.

Horses from Aqueduct to Del Mar have descended on Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., for the 65-date meet that opens Friday.

The season runs through Kentucky Derby Day, May 3.

Oaklawn drew the card for its opener the day after Thanksgiving and a swath of racing jurisdictions are represented among the 112 horses that were entered in 10 races. The first round of horses entered last raced on a variety of circuits - in 13 different states - coming from as far away as New York City and Southern California.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario came out with new rules on Saturday regarding entering horses at Woodbine that resulted in a host of scratches on the Saturday card. The rules were instituted following several catastrophic breakdowns and injuries on the main track between Oct. 28 and Nov. 29.

The AGCO directed Woodbine to implement the following measures effective immediately, until further notice:

California-based trainer Ben Cecil, who died on Friday after a lengthy battle with cancer, had a nearly unparalleled introduction to Thoroughbred racing.

Cecil was the nephew of the legendary British trainer Henry Cecil. Growing up in Britain, it was easy for Ben Cecil to follow his uncle’s career during a time when he had one of Europe’s leading stables. Henry Cecil won 25 classic races in Britain.

On a day trip with his uncle to Newbury Racecourse, west of London, a teenaged Ben Cecil saw the sport from a different perspective, realizing what he wanted to do.

A barn at Mahoning Valley Race Course in Youngstown, Ohio, has been placed under quarantine after a horse at the track tested positive for strangles, a highly contagious bacterial infection of the upper airway, according to a notice distributed on Tuesday by a Kentucky agricultural official.

Ricardo Santana Jr., a 32-year-old jockey who has cracked the top 10 in annual earnings three times in the past five years, will face a “thorough review” of his suitability to ride by Kentucky regulators when he is released later this week from a seven-day prison sentence brought on by two drunken-driving arrests, according to the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation.

Santana began serving the sentence on Nov. 20 and is scheduled to be released on Friday, according to records of the Shelby County Detention Center. He last rode on Nov. 17 at Churchill Downs.

Two also-rans in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile have been made the morning-line co-favorites among the individual entries for the second Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool, according to a list distributed by Churchill Downs, the administrator of the pool, on Monday night.

Chancer McPatrick and East Avenue, sixth and ninth in the Juvenile behind gate-to-wire winner Citizen Bull, were posted at 10-1 on the morning line for the pool, which opens Thursday and closes Sunday night. Citizen Bull was one of three horses among the 38 individual entries listed at 20-1.