Canchari last rode at Prairie Meadows, on the closing day card Oct. 2. He won 47 races from 332 starts at the meet, for mount earnings of $1.3 millionAlex Canchari, a rider based in the Midwest, died on Wednesday of an apparent suicide, according to his family. Canchari was 29.

Canchari had not ridden since October of last year at Prairie Meadows racetrack in Iowa. He began riding late in 2011 and had amassed more than $28 million in purse earnings and 1,044 wins. His most prestigious win came aboard Flat Out Speed in the Grade 3 Iowa Oaks in 2020.

Javier Castellano is a member of racing’s Hall of Fame. He has won 12 Breeders’ Cup races, the Preakness twice, the Travers on a record six occasions, and has been honored with the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding jockey four times.

Castellano’s latest honor came Thursday, when it was announced the 45-year-old native of Venezuela is the 2023 recipient of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, which is based on a nationwide vote of riders and reflects career achievement and personal character.

WHO’S HOT

This weekend, Chad Brown figures to learn more about his prospects for this year’s Kentucky Derby. Not only as a trainer, but as a breeder.

On Saturday, Brown, the trainer, will send out Grade 1 winner Blazing Sevens in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park and the maiden winner Uncorrelated in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at Aqueduct.

Brown, the breeder, will be represented by Practical Move in the Grade 2, $400,000 San Felipe at Santa Anita.

First-time eligible Thoroughbred champions Arrogate, California Chrome, Lady Eli, and Songbird are among six new names that will appear on the ballot for the first time for possible election into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, it was announced on Tuesday.

Trainer John Sadler along with retired trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, though previously eligible, are also newcomers to the Hall of Fame ballot.

The aforementioned quartet of horses join previously nominated racehorses Blind Luck, Game On Dude, Havre de Grace, Kona Gold, and Rags to Riches on the ballot.

A hearing scheduled for Wednesday to hear Bob Baffert’s appeal of a suspension handed down by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission last year has been postponed because one of the attorneys involved has fallen ill, representatives of both Baffert and the KHRC confirmed on Tuesday.

The hearing was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Frankfort. A make-up date for the hearing has not been determined yet, the representatives said.

Daily Racing Form has finalists in two media categories for the 2022 Sovereign Awards, which were announced by The Jockey Club of Canada on Monday.

Woodbine DRF reporter and handicapper Ron Gierkink is one of five finalists in the writing category for his feature on trainer Katerina Vassilieva and her journey toward the Queen’s Plate with favored Rondure. The others are Chris Lomon, Ivan Bigg, Dave Briggs, and George Williams.

The hearing officer who is presiding over an appeal by Bob Baffert of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s decision to suspend him and disqualify his 2021 Kentucky Derby winner has called for a hearing into the matter on Wednesday afternoon in Frankfort.

Eden Davis Stephens, the hearing officer, will hear oral arguments from Baffert’s legal advisors and the KHRC’s legal counsel during the hearing, according to officials involved. Each side has been allotted 75 minutes for their arguments.

Country Grammer, second for the second straight year in the $20 million Saudi Cup, will go on to Dubai to try and win the $10 million Dubai World Cup for the second year in a row.  

Racing wide and rallying late under Frankie Dettori, Country Grammer finished fastest Sunday at King Abdulaziz Racecourse but fell just short of wire-to-wire winner Panthalassa. The horse travels from Saudi Arabia to Dubai, where he’ll prepare for another run at the World Cup on March 25, trainer Bob Baffert said via text message Sunday.  

Sunland Park will run the four stakes it was forced to cancel Sunday because of extreme weather on Tuesday, Feb. 28, said Dustin Dix, director of racing operations for the New Mexico track.

The races include the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby, which is a prep for the Grade 3, $600,000 Sunland Park Derby on March 26.  

Dix said the four stakes will be tacked on to the end of Tuesday’s nine-race card that begins at 12:25 p.m. Mountain. It will make for a 13-race program and there will be an all-stakes pick four on races 10-13, Dix said.