With an 85-horse stable spread across three states, Quarter Horse trainer Toby Keeton had plenty of candidates available for the Ruidoso Futurity time trials on Friday and Saturday at Ruidoso Downs.

Keeton took two geldings – Getthere Fast and Otts Boy, each a winner of a 250-yard maiden race at Sam Houston Race Park in late April in his first start. At Ruidoso, Getthere Fast and Otts Boy won divisions of the 350-yard trials and are among the 10 qualifiers for the $1 million final on June 12. There were 30 trials with 290 starters.

The 20-cent Rainbow pick six has a carryover of $588,484 into Monday’s program at Santa Anita, a day with a mandatory payout.

Track officials expect the pool of new money to surpass $5 million.

Monday’s pick six covers the fifth through 10th races on a program that begins at 1 p.m., Pacific. The first race in the pick six has a post time of approximately 3:18 p.m.

Lester Piggott, one of the finest jockeys of the 20th century, has died.

According to reports in the British press, Piggott died Sunday in Switzerland after a recent hospitalization. He had suffered heart problems in recent decades.

Piggott was 86.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Florida Derby winner White Abarrio was back on the work tab Sunday morning at Gulfstream Park, cruising three furlongs in 36.61 just before the first renovation break. The breeze was the first for White Abarrio since his 16th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said he is pointing White Abarrio for the Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 25. 

ELMONT, N.Y. – When it comes to the 154th Belmont Stakes on June 11, the connections of the filly Nest are letting her try to sell them on the idea of running.

Friday, after the fog had lifted at Belmont Park, Nest took another step toward making that decision a little clearer with the way she went in a stamina-building workout alongside stablemate and possible Belmont Stakes favorite Mo Donegal.

The Northern California stalwart Camino Del Paraiso has been retired after a 48-race career that began in the autumn of 2015 and ended with a third-place finish in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields last month. 

A 9-year-old gelding, Camino Del Paraiso was recently diagnosed with a minor injury that led to the decision to end his racing career, trainer O.J. Jauregui said on Thursday. 

Camino Del Paraiso was nominated for Monday’s $100,000 All American Stakes at Golden Gate Fields and had a five-furlong workout on May 20.

Attorneys for the suspended Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert have filed a motion asking a federal court to dismiss an attempt by Churchill Downs Inc. to throw out Baffert’s lawsuit against the company.

The response from Baffert was filed three weeks after Churchill filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the company has the legal right to exclude licensees from its property. The case is being argued in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

Breeders’ Cup has restructured the series of U.S. races that comprise its “Win and You’re In” schedule by apportioning the races into three geographic regions, the company announced on Tuesday, in an effort to promote “regional rivalries.”

Headed by Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, who was purposely kept out of the Preakness Stakes last Saturday at Pimlico, a field of 10 is currently under consideration for the June 11 Belmont Stakes, the final leg of what has been an historically unusual Triple Crown series.

How unusual? With Preakness winner Early Voting passing the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, this will mark the first time since 1954 that the Derby winner missed the Preakness the same year that the Preakness winner missed the Belmont.

There was no time for celebration for jockey Jose Ortiz, who won his first Preakness Stakes on Saturday aboard Early Voting at Pimlico. Following the post-race interview session and a shower, Ortiz and his family jumped in the car and drove back to New York, getting home around 1 a.m. Sunday.

“I guess my adrenaline was high because I didn’t get sleepy and when I got home I couldn’t fall asleep,” Ortiz, 29, said Sunday morning. “Everything was sinking in last night when I got to bed. It was very emotional because this is what we work for and to get it done is amazing.”