Linda Rice, who broke the single-season record for wins on the New York Racing Association circuit last year, has dropped her appeal of a 14-day suspension issued by the New York State Gaming Commission early last year and will serve the days beginning March 3, Rice said Friday.

Rice was issued the suspension by the NYSGC after a horse she trained, Afleet Arlene, tested positive for the regulated painkiller phenylbutazone following a race on Jan. 21, 2023. Two weeks earlier, another horse trained by Rice, Winter Pool, tested positive for the same drug.

Two graded stakes were downgraded for 2024 by The Jockey Club of Canada’s graded stakes committee during its annual review of graded and listed stakes in Canada. 

The committee reviewed the North American Race Committee (NARC) figures and the Race Quality Scores (RQS) for all graded, listed, and potentially listed stakes in Canada.

The multiple Grade 1 winner Casa Creed had a fever last week and was not among the U.S.-based horses who shipped Tuesday to Saudi Arabia for their bevy of rich stakes to be held at King Abdulaziz Racetrack on Feb. 24.

Casa Creed, an 8-year-old son of Jimmy Creed, was being pointed to the Group 2, $1.5 million 1351 Turf Sprint, a race in which he has finished second the last two years.

His trainer Bill Mott said Casa Creed’s fever forced him to miss a scheduled workout over the weekend.

Jonathan Wong, a leading trainer at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California, has been issued a two-year suspension by an arbitrator who ruled that Wong’s testimony in a recent hearing over a metformin positive in one of his horses was “untruthful.”

The arbitrator, Nancy Holtz, applied the start of the two-year suspension retroactively to July 1, 2023 when Wong was provisionally suspended due to the first finding of metformin. Holtz also ruled that Wong should be responsible for $8,000 of the costs of arbitration.

Trainer Dan Blacker was suspended 90 days and fined $15,000 by Santa Anita stewards on Sunday for 527 incidents in which horses in his care did not undergo pre-workout veterinary examinations from Jan. 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023.

The suspension is scheduled to run from Feb. 26 through May 25. During that time, Blacker is banned from racetrack property, including access to his stable.

The penalty is one of the more severe sanctions issued by stewards in recent years.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The infield training track at Santa Anita is expected to open by the end of the month, a delay of more than six weeks from the original timeline, officials said on Saturday.

The track was closed in early November to install a synthetic track that was intended to be in use by mid-January.

Track senior vice president and general manager Nate Newby said on Saturday that construction has been delayed by recent wet weather and by the availability of installation crews.

“Everything will be ready in two weeks,” Newby said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Missed the Cut, the winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita, has raced in four countries in his 14-race career.

A 5-year-old, Missed the Cut may be back in familiar territory in the spring. Trainer John Sadler said in the winner’s circle on Saturday that Missed the Cut could be sent to England for the prestigious Royal Ascot meeting in June.

Golden Gate Fields has canceled racing for Feb. 19 because of concern over horse availability, track general manager David Duggan said on Sunday.

Golden Gate Fields will have three days of racing next weekend from Friday through Sunday.

“I think four days of racing at this juncture would set us back,” Duggan said. “I think we’d suffer in the long-term.”