The fifth running of the $500,000 Penn Mile at Penn National Race Course on Saturday evening is an East/West affair as two of the top choices, Big Score and Cistron, were flown in from Southern California on Wednesday. They will take on eight rivals, including two each from the barns of Mike Maker, Todd Pletcher, and George Weaver.

The Maker horses, Shiraz and Prize Fight, and the Pletcher-trained Bonus Points will race as a Three Diamonds Farm-owned entry, meaning there will be eight betting interests.

Leading Mid-Atlantic rider Trevor McCarthy will be sidelined six months as the result of a spill at Monmouth Park on May 21, according to his agent, Scott Silver.

It was originally thought McCarthy would be out only five to eight weeks after he dislocated his left shoulder, but it has been determined he will need surgery to make a complete recovery. McCarthy is scheduled to be operated on June 12 at Bryn Mawr Hospital outside Philadelphia.

ELMONT, N.Y. – While the focus of the Preakness Stakes was rightfully on the stretch duel between Cloud Computing and Classic Empire – as well as the disappointing finish by Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming – the performance of third-place finisher Senior Investment may have gotten overlooked.

Last of 10 approaching the top of the stretch, Senior Investment was spun widest of all by Channing Hill turning for home and closed very well to finish within 4 3/4 lengths of Cloud Computing.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The first racing week of June will begin Thursday with a carryover of $397,862 in the single-ticket jackpot pool of the $2 pick six at Santa Anita.

The single-ticket portion of the pool has not been hit since May 4. There were 11 winning tickets in Monday’s pick six, each worth $18,250. Consolation tickets with five winners were worth $84.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said it wasn’t easy to sit out the first two legs of this year’s Triple Crown. He had opportunities to ride the Kentucky Derby but turned them down to ride in New York that day and won two stakes. He did not have the opportunity to ride the Preakness, even though he had ridden Cloud Computing, the Preakness winner, in his previous start.

To improve public perception of its racing product, Parx Racing will institute several house rules to discourage medication violations and hidden ownership of horses, according to Sam Elliott, the track's director of racing.

Beginning June 1, any trainers who within a 365-day period accumulate three medication violations that result in a fine or suspension, or two medication violations that result in a suspension, will have their stalls revoked and must immediately remove their horses from Parx property.

Imperial Eagle, the champion who won last year’s $3 million All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs, will launch his season Sunday in trial races at the New Mexico track. He is set to start in the fourth race, which is one of 12 trials being held for the Grade 1 Ruidoso Derby.

Imperial Eagle has won stakes in his last two starts, taking the Grade 1 Southwest Juvenile Championship at Zia and the Sunland Winter Juvenile at Sunland Park. Both stakes were in December.

Since its first running 126 years ago, the Metropolitan Handicap, or Met Mile, as it is popularly known, has tested the mettle of the country’s top handicap horses.

It was firmly established as a top event in 1905, when it was run as the feature on the first day of racing at the new Belmont Park. The race was declared a dead heat when Race King and the brilliant Sysonby could not be separated at the wire.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The band is getting back together.

Last year, trainer Steve Asmussen tabbed Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride Creator in the Belmont Stakes, and the locally based rider gave the horse a flawless ride to beat Destin by a nose. On Friday, Asmussen confirmed that Ortiz will ride Kentucky Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee in the 149th Belmont Stakes on June 10.

Ortiz replaces Corey Lanerie, who rode Lookin At Lee in the Derby and to a fourth-place finish in the Preakness.

A U.S. congressman from New Jersey has released a draft of a bill that would repeal a federal prohibition covering most types of sports betting and allow states to decide whether to allow gambling on sports within their borders.