DEL MAR, Calif. – Golden Gate Fields, the Northern California flagship track scheduled to close in December, may stay open until June, pending meetings in coming weeks focused largely on financial arrangements, according to discussions at Wednesday’s California Horse Racing Board dates committee meeting.

Jockey Perry Wayne Ouzts became the fifth-leading rider in North American history with a victory Tuesday at Belterra Park in Cincinnati.

Ouzts, 69, piloted Lanalikeschoochoos to a 5 3/4-length win in a six-furlong claiming race at Belterra for his 7,397th career victory. That moved him one ahead of David Gall - who retired in 1999, and died in 2021 at age 79 - on the North American wins list.

Lanalikeschoochoos is trained by Larry Smith, a longtime friend of Ouzts who frequently partners with the rider.

Jeffrey Poole, a trainer recently based in Florida, has been handed a 22-month suspension by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit due to the possession of a banned drug used to stimulate the thyroid gland, according to HIWU records.

The 22-month suspension was issued by HIWU’s arbitral body, which is the first stage of appeals for a penalty under rules that went into effect on May 22. Poole had been issued a provisional suspension shortly after investigators discovered the banned substance in his barn on June 2.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The 2-year-old colt Deterministic made an eye-catching debut Saturday, overcoming a slow start and a wide trip to win a seven-furlong dirt maiden race by a half-length over Hurricane Nelson.

Deterministic is a 2-year-old son of Liam’s Map whose deep female family pedigree suggests he would be a turf horse. His family includes graded stakes-winning mares Aquilegia and Amelia.

“He trained well on dirt for us, so I’m delighted that he ran as well as he did yesterday,” trainer Christophe Clement said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The upset victory by Closethegame Sugar ($41) in Sunday’s $150,000 Mahony Stakes resulted in a pick-6 carryover of $179,735 into Wednesday’s card at Saratoga.

Closethegame Sugar, the second-longest shot in the field of nine and one of just two horses not covered, capped a sequence in which there were no winning favorites. The other winners in the pick-6 were Activist Investing ($6.20), Zadorsky ($11.80), Business Model ($25.20), Magic Tap ($8.80), and He’smyhoneybadger ($9.20).

DEL MAR, Calif. - Hector Berrios, second in the jockey standings at Del Mar through Saturday, has been named to ride the 3-year-old Skinner in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sept. 2, trainer John Shirreffs said.

Berrios replaces Mike Smith, who is committed to ride Geaux Rocket Ride in the $1 million race at 1 1/4 miles.

Geaux Rocket Ride won the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles at Monmouth Park on July 22, the colt’s first graded stakes win in his fourth start.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Until the weekend, California horse owner Danny Eplin thought there were only two certain ways to get a family together – weddings and funerals.

Eplin found a third at Del Mar on Saturday, for the right reasons.

Eplin’s four children and his sister accompanied the Northern California-based owner to watch Dreamfyre remain unbeaten in two starts with an impressive win in the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - If Casa Creed and Annapolis meet for a third time this year, it won’t happen until the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.

Casa Creed, who defeated Annapolis for a second time this meet when beating him by three-quarters of a length in Saturday’s Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap, won’t run again until the Breeders’ Cup, trainer Bill Mott said Sunday. Casa Creed earned a fees-paid berth in the BC Mile by virtue of his Fourstardave victory.

DEL MAR, Calif. - “We’ll go up north.”

For decades that has been a familiar refrain of owners and trainers seeking easier maiden races, allowance races or lower-level stakes opportunities at Bay Area tracks for Southern California-based horses.

That will change in December when Golden Gate Fields closes after 82 years as part of the California circuit.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Rhyme Schemes, clearly the most exciting 2-year-old on the East Coast at this point of the season, came out of his one-sided and explosive victory in Saturday’s Saratoga Special in good order, trainer Norm Casse reported on Sunday morning, and will be pointed to the Grade 1 Hopeful here on September 4, closing day of the 2023 Saratoga meeting.

“He’s doing well, he ate up everything last night, and this morning it didn’t seem like he even ran yesterday,” Casse said after training hours on Sunday. “We like that.”