Before the page gets turned on 2020, the year’s champions are to be announced, and on Saturday the top three finalists for 17 Eclipse Award categories – 12 for horses, five for humans – will be revealed beginning at noon Eastern (9 a.m. Pacific) on TVG.

Former trainer Ralph Biszantz, the younger brother of prominent owner and breeder Gary Biszantz, died Tuesday in Ocala, Fla., after a brief bout with cancer. He was 78.

Biszantz was largely based in California during his training career. His last starter was in 2012 in Florida, where he lived for most of the past decade.

Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, known the world over for his powerhouse Juddmonte Farms breeding and racing operation, has died at age 83. Juddmonte issued news of his death Tuesday morning, with plans for the future of his Thoroughbred holdings not immediately disclosed.

“The whole of Juddmonte feels a huge sense of loss,” Juddmonte CEO Douglas Erskine Crum said in a release. “Prince Khalid will always be remembered as a quiet, dignified, benevolent family man, whose horses spoke for him.

A state board charged with oversight of the New York Racing Association’s budget and operations has approved the company’s plan to renovate its Oklahoma training track at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York.

Top-level dirt sprinter Shancelot has been retired after coming out of a Monday workout with a soft-tissue injury, trainer Steve Asmussen said.

Natalie Voss, a reporter and editor-and-chief for The Paulick Report, was named the Eclipse Award winner for both categories in writing, for stories dealing with the aftercare of retired racehorses, the administrators of the awards announced on Wednesday.

Voss won the Feature/Commentary Writing Eclipse for “An Angel on His Shoulder,” and the News/Enterprise Writing Eclipse for a three-part series dealing with the past, present, and future of aftercare efforts. Voss also won an Eclipse in 2016 for News/Enterprise Writing.

Jockey C.J. McMahon, who was arrested over the weekend at his Louisiana home and charged with attempted murder, is not scheduled to appear in court until August, and the rider is weighing his options about whether to continue to ride until he is arraigned, according to his agent.

Elmhurst, winner of the 1997 Breeders' Cup Sprint, died Monday at Our Mims Retirement Haven in Paris, Ky., due to heart failure. The son of Wild Again was 31.

Elmhurst had resided at Our Mims, founded by Jeanne Mirabito, since 2011. Mirabito had been a fan of Our Mims, Calumet's champion filly of 1977, as a teenager, and later cared for the mare as a pensioner. Her experiences inspired her to found her Thoroughbred retirement organization, primarily as a home for retired broodmares. The gelded Elmhurst was out of Mimbet, a daughter of Our Mims.

Jonathan Sheppard, the Hall of Fame trainer whose horses have excelled on dirt, on turf, and, especially, over steeplechase fences, announced on Monday that he is retiring from American racing, though he will maintain a small stable in Ireland.

Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic, considered the front-runner for Horse of the Year, was among the most successful racehorses of 2020. However, many of his human connections were edged out on the season’s final leaderboards, with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and trainer Steve Asmussen again leading the nation by both wins and earnings.