Gulfstream Park officials have put in place a number of protocols designed to protect horses that are shipping in for the track’s marquee Pegasus World Cup card in the wake of a horse on the backstretch testing positive for equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious disease.

A gathering of racing’s glitterati and television viewers are widely expected to witness Flightline and his connections being honored with the 2022 Horse of the Year award when the annual Eclipse Awards dinner is held Thursday evening at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla.

Flightline, whose 8 1/4-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland in November capped an unbeaten career, also is expected to win the Eclipse for older dirt male. The newly turned 5-year-old horse soon will embark on his stud career at Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky.

Pool 3 in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager closed Sunday evening with the mutuel field as the 2-1 favorite among 40 wagering options.

The field, or “all-other” male runners, was a clear-cut choice over individual entries Forte (7-1), Instant Coffee (15-1), Loggins (16-1), and Extra Anejo (18-1) after the customary three-day window of betting. A “3-year-old filly” option was 33-1.

Combined handle (win and exacta) in Pool 3 was $312,906. The lowest $2 exacta combination was the field over Forte (40-13), worth $39.28.

Jockey Joree Scriver, who suffered lower-limb paralysis in a one-horse accident on Jan. 1 at Sunland Park in New Mexico, was transferred from a hospital in El Paso, Texas, to the Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., a premier rehabilitation center for paralysis patients, her sister said Sunday.

Scriver, 21, is scheduled to remain at Craig for 60 days, according to her sister, Nicole West.

“She hasn’t had any feeling or motion in her legs,” West said. “She remains paralyzed right now.”

As trainer Bob Baffert’s suspension from the New York Racing Association is set to expire this week, new details have emerged about what has to happen for horses currently trained by him to be eligible to compete in this year’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

As Baffert is still suspended by Churchill Downs through this year’s Derby on May 6, owners who have potential Derby horses with him must transfer them to other trainers by Feb. 28 in order to be eligible to earn qualifying points in those points-scoring races designated by Churchill Downs on the Road to the Derby.

NEW YORK – Nick Surick, a prominent Standardbred trainer, was sentenced Thursday to five years and two months in prison for his involvement in what prosecutors called the largest horse-doping investigation in the history of the Justice Department.

The sentencing took place in U.S. District Court in New York, where prison sentences have been meted out to 18 other defendants in the case. Prosecutors have charged 31 individuals since March 2020.

The 3-year-old colt Giant Mischief hasn’t posted a timed workout since finishing a troubled second in the Springboard Mile on Dec. 17 at Remington Park, but trainer Brad Cox said Wednesday that Giant Mischief would “return to the work tab this weekend” at Fair Grounds and is being aimed toward the $1 million Rebel Stakes on Feb. 25 at Oaklawn Park. 

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and his wife, Tracy, will be honored by the New York Race Track Chaplaincy for their generous and continued support of the New York backstretch, the NYRTC announced this week.

A ceremony will take place Aug. 16 at Saratoga National Golf Club in Saratoga at the 16th annual NYRTC fundraising brunch.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Colonel Liam, whose victories in the last two runnings of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream Park were the highlights of an outstanding career, has been retired.

Trainer Todd Pletcher had been trying to get Colonel Liam to a third straight running of the $1 million Pegasus Turf, which is set for next Saturday, but “he came up with a little ankle issue, and the timing was such that now was the right time to retire him. He’s been a tremendous horse for us, just a beautiful horse. Hopefully everything goes well for him at stud.”

Empressum won arguably the toughest running of the Champion of Champions last month at Los Alamitos in the 50th running of the historic Quarter Horse race.

That win, combined with two other major stakes wins in July and August at the California track, were enough for Empressum to secure the honor as the 2022 Quarter Horse World Champion in a ceremony at the Heritage Place sales pavilion in Oklahoma City on Wednesday.