ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill – A friend and colleague from back home in Argentina came to see Ignacio Correas in New York during 2002. The September before, Correas had left Argentina with his wife and two children. His friend could hardly believe the man before him.

“I had lost weight, from 165 to 128,” Correas said. “I started working 3:30 in the morning and I would leave at 5:30 in the evening every day. He said, ‘You you need to go home! What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘I’m going to do good!’ and he said. ‘You’re not doing good. You’re doing terrible.’ ”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – John Hendrickson, the manager of his wife’s Marylou Whitney Stables, has been named the president of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame here, the museum announced Thursday.

Hendrickson, who has a residence in Saratoga Springs, will succeed Gretchen Jackson, the co-owner of Lael Stables, who has served as president since 2014. Hendrickson is a former board member of the New York Racing Association and served as a special adviser to NYRA’s board on matters pertaining to Saratoga. He married Marylou Whitney in 1997.

Prominent owner and breeder Eugene Melnyk was among the five inductees on the Thoroughbred side at the 2017 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Wednesday night at the Mississauga Convention Center in suburban Toronto.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The struggle is real. Every time Divisidero nears the mountaintop, the boulder comes rolling back down, not unlike what happens to Sisyphus in Greek mythology.

“Oh, I know,” said Buff Bradley, who trains Divisidero for the Gunpowder Farms of Tom Keithley. “He’ll win a big race, and I’ll be thinking, ‘Man, he might be the best turf horse in the country.’ And then next out he just can’t quite push the ball over the top of the hill, and we’re back down where we started.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – At a time when many are ending their evening revelry around here at Del Mar, that’s when the day starts for trainer Bill Spawr.

“I get up at 1:30 or 1:45, exercise for 20 or 25 minutes, do some stretches for my back, and get here at 2:45 – every single day,” he said, except he used a more colorful word than “single.”

“I like getting to the barn early. It’s quieter. I get more done. I can get a better look at the horses.”

Man o' War with first groom John Buckner at Faraway Farm.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As he stood on a stage here Friday morning, newly minted Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza joked that he had “nothing but bad memories” of the town and the historic racetrack.

“Finally, I get to take one good memory today,” Espinoza said.

Jockey Javier Castellano, sitting in the front row, a few feet from Espinoza, laughed, no doubt remembering the 2015 Travers Stakes, where Castellano piloted Keen Ice past Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and Espinoza for one of Castellano’s record five victories in Saratoga’s signature race.

Leonard Lavin, a successful entrepreneur and the owner of Glen Hill Farm, died Wednesday. He was 97.

A native of Chicago, Lavin graduated from the University of Washington and spent four years in the U.S. Navy before he purchased and reorganized the beauty-care supply manufacturer Alberto-Culver in 1955. The company created products under brands including Alberto VO5, St. Ives, TRESemmé, and Nexxus, among others.

Ten jockeys have won the Kentucky Derby at least three times. Nine of them are already in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and on Friday, the 10th member of that elite group, Victor Espinoza, will be among those inducted during the annual ceremony at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Ben’s Cat, a four-time Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, will have his ashes buried at Laurel Park in a Nov. 11 ceremony.

The 11-year-old gelding was euthanized July 18 due to complications following colic surgery. He underwent the procedure about a week after retiring to Bayne and Chris Welker’s Spring Ridge Farm in Versailles, Ky. Ben’s Cat raced as a homebred for trainer King Leatherbury.