Early in February, the California Horse Racing Board released its annual report for the fiscal year 2017-2018, and one particular piece of data stood out: the number of equine fatalities at all California racetracks and training centers had declined markedly compared to the year prior. For an industry that is constantly under threat from animal-welfare issues, the 33 percent drop was a cause for celebration.

Ten new names are in the lineup for Pool 3 of the 2019 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for the customary three-day run.

Pool 3 coincides with the only futures pool toward the 2019 Kentucky Oaks, with an Oaks-Derby double future wager being offered for the second year.

:: DERBY WATCH: Top 20 Kentucky Derby contenders with comments from Jay Privman and Mike Watchmaker

ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita cancelled Thursday’s eight-race program because of heavy rain expected the day before, the track announced Sunday.

Racing is scheduled to resume at noon Friday with an 11-race program. Friday programs have typically had eight or nine races in recent months.

Rain is forecast from Tuesday through Thursday, with as much as an inch projected to fall Wednesday.

The winter-spring meeting, which began on Dec. 26, has been plagued by wet weather. The Jan. 17 program was cancelled that morning because of wet conditions.

TVG, the horse-racing television network and account-wagering operation, has reached sponsorship agreements with leading riders Irad Ortiz and his brother Jose, the company said on Thursday, the second such deal the company has made with jockeys.

Under the deal, the Ortiz brothers, natives of Puerto Rico who have each won an Eclipse Award for top rider, will wear TVG-branded apparel and appear in promotional materials for the company. They will also make special appearances on behalf of TVG and in exclusive content available on the network, the company said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita announced on Sunday that it would close its main track late Monday morning and all of Tuesday to inspect the base of the surface.

The decision was made after a weekend in which three horses were euthanized as a result of injuries sustained in racing and training, most notably Battle of Midway, the winner of the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita.

This is the time of year when Kentucky Derby Fever really begins to brew, and the whys of it certainly require no reading or repeating here. Unfortunately, this also is the time of year when the tradition of the 3-year-old filly division being overshadowed also occurs, and that is a shame.

The Kentucky Oaks is eclipsed because of the behemoth that the Derby is, and because it is run literally in the shadow of the Derby on the day before. But the Oaks is a true major event, one I believe is by far the most important race in the 3-year-old filly division.

The winner of the inaugural Oaklawn Invitational for 3-year-olds on May 4 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., will receive a free berth into the Preakness Stakes, the Maryland Jockey Club announced Friday.

The Preakness Stakes – the second leg of the Triple Crown - will be run May 18 at Pimlico Race Course.

Rudy Turcotte, whose otherwise solid career as a jockey was often overshadowed by that of his older Hall of Fame brother, Ron, died Feb. 13 in his hometown of Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada, following a lengthy illness. He was 69.

Rudy Turcotte once rode six winners on a card at Aqueduct, becoming just the third jockey at the time to do so. He was the leading jockey on several occasions at tracks in the Northeastern U.S. at the peak of his career in the early 1970s, according to Ron Turcotte. Rudy Turcotte won the 1980 Laurel Futurity, then a Grade 1, on Cure the Blues.

The Grade 3, $150,000 Canadian Derby will headline the inaugural Century Mile meet, which begins April 28 and runs for 51 days through Aug. 26.

The new Century Mile is the only one-mile track in Canada west of Ontario. It is located in Nisku, Alberta, a suburb of Edmonton, and is a drive and a wedge from the Edmonton Airport. It replaces Northlands Park, which was located in Edmonton.

The 80th running of the Canadian Derby will be Sunday, Aug. 18. The distance of the derby has changed from its traditional 1 3/8 miles to 1 1/4 miles.

Longtime Ontario trainer Joe Walls died last Sunday at age 78 after a brief illness.

Walls moved from British Columbia to Toronto in the early 1990s, before his son, Mickey, launched a highly successful career as a jockey. Joe Walls sent out three stakes winners at Woodbine during the late 1990s – the popular Seismic Report, Kidnap the Wife, and Hide the Bride, who captured the Grade 3 Royal North.

From 1976 to 2018, Walls won 419 races with 3,122 starters, including 43 stakes scores. Those runners earned approximately $8 million.