After more than 20 years owning horses, Mike Gatsas resigned himself to the fact he might never have a horse good enough to run in the Kentucky Derby.

Then, one morning last summer, Gatsas watched an unraced 2-year-old by Candy Ride that he owns in partnership with Randy Hill put in a workout at Saratoga.

“I might have one,” Gatsas thought.

Nine months later, Gatsas will participate in his first Kentucky Derby on Saturday with Vekoma, a winner of three of four career starts, including the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The countdown to the Kentucky Derby has begun, and after the way his colt Omaha Beach worked on Saturday, Derby Day can’t come soon enough for trainer Richard Mandella.

“How many more days we got?” Mandella asked rhetorically shortly after Omaha Beach, in his final work for the 145th Derby, one week away, worked a sharp five furlongs on Saturday morning at Churchill Downs.

Six months ago, it seemed highly likely California owners Gary and Mary West would be back at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby.

In November, they won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill with the undefeated Game Winner, who in January was named the champion 2-year-old male of 2018. Game Winner has done his part to qualify for next Saturday’s Kentucky Derby with two second-place finishes in major stakes in the last six weeks.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Frank Stronach, the Eclipse Award-winning owner and breeder whose family has owned Santa Anita for more than 20 years, unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday to turn Santa Anita and other venues owned by his family over to a trust run by racing participants to ensure their survival as racetracks.

In addition to Santa Anita and Golden Gate in California, Stronach’s racing properties include Gulfstream Park in Florida and Pimlico and Laurel in Maryland.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Four horses have suffered catastrophic injuries while racing during the first 13 days of Keeneland’s 16-day spring meet.

Three of the breakdowns occurred during dirt races, and the other occurred during a turf race. Three of the four horses were 4 years old, while the other was a 3-year-old. Three were relatively accomplished horses – with two of the horses having either won or placed in a stakes race – while the other was a maiden making his second start. Three of the four were sold at auction earlier in their lives.

Jockey Craig Perret and the mare Royal Delta are the two contemporary inductees voted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, part of a bulky 2019 class of 16 – including horses of yesteryear and Pillars of the Turf – announced Monday by the Hall of Fame.

Jockey David Cohen has been suspended 60 calendar days by the Oaklawn Park board of stewards after they ruled he deliberately used his whip on fellow rider Edgar Morales in the track’s eighth race April 6.

Cohen has appealed the ruling, his agent, Bill Castle, said Friday. The stewards said a date for a hearing before the Arkansas Racing Commission has to be set by the agency’s offices in Little Rock.

Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., has canceled Saturday night’s program due to an issue with the track’s electrical system, according to a press release. The technical difficulties were caused by heavy rain.

Evangeline on Friday night canceled after the fourth race because the situation began impacting the track lighting system in some areas.

Evangeline expects to resume racing Wednesday at 5:50 p.m. Central. The meet that opened last month runs through Aug. 24. 

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A group of tracks representing nearly 90 percent of the total handle on U.S. races, including all three hosts of the Triple Crown races, have agreed to seek a ban on the raceday use of the diuretic furosemide in all of their 2-year-old races beginning next year and then extend the ban to all of their stakes races in 2021, the group confirmed on Thursday morning.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney has formed a task force to investigate a series of horse fatalities at Santa Anita in recent months, according to a statement released Tuesday.

The announcement of the investigation comes days before legislation is scheduled to be introduced by State Senator Bill Dodd (Napa) and Assemblyman Adam Gray (Merced) that will give the California Horse Racing Board the authority to suspend racing “if dangerous conditions exist.”