In the summer of 2015, trainer Tony Dutrow had a handful of 2-year-olds from the first crop of Uncle Mo. He liked the promise they had shown and wanted to get more. So, at the Keeneland yearling sale that September, getting an Uncle Mo colt was paramount to Dutrow.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Cup and Saucer Stakes winner Tiz a Slam has been installed as the early 3-1 favorite for the 158th Queen’s Plate at Woodbine on July 2.

The Queen’s Plate winter book, compiled by Ron Gierkink and Alex Campbell of Daily Racing Form and Keith McCalmont, manager of communications for the Woodbine Entertainment Group, offers hypothetical odds on all 91 3-year-olds nominated to the Canadian Triple Crown.

WHO’S HOT

Jamie Ness has reached a settlement with Florida regulators in which the trainer will serve a 100-day suspension stemming from multiple clenbuterol positives in 2012 while being able to transfer his horses to his wife and his assistant, the trainer confirmed Wednesday.

The Maryland Jockey Club’s reconfigured Winter Festival last weekend resulted in a 36 percent gain in handle compared to a year ago.

Traditionally, the six-stakes Winter Festival had been spread over the Saturday and Monday cards on Presidents Day weekend. This year, all six stakes were run on Saturday, which resulted in all-sources handle of $4.93 million, a 61 percent gain over the $3.06 million handled in 2016.

The combined handle on the Saturday and Monday cards last weekend was $6.77 million, compared to $4.99 million last year.

Eight new names are among the separately listed wagering interests in Pool 3 of the 2017 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern. The only futures pool toward the 2017 Kentucky Oaks will coincide with the three-day wagering window.

The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, is pegged by Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia as a 4-1 morning-line favorite for Derby Pool 3, which closes Sunday at 6 p.m. Unique Bella is the 8-5 program choice in the Oaks pool, which closes a half-hour later.

Charismatic, the 1999 Horse of the Year and dual classic winner, died due to internal bleeding as the result of a pelvic fracture, Old Friends has confirmed following a complete necropsy.

Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas visited his 1999 Kentucky Derby winner Charismatic in December at Old Friends in Georgetown, Ky., a day after the stallion was re-patriated to Kentucky following more than a decade at stud in Japan.

“He looked good enough that you probably could have tacked him up and galloped him,” Lukas said Sunday. “He looked terrific.”

A memorial for trainer Jerry Weaver will be held Friday at 11 a.m. Pacific at the Golden Gate Fields test barn, where Weaver would treat workers to ice cream whenever he won a race.

Weaver, 80, suffered a fatal heart attack at his barn Feb. 7 after returning from watching two horses work. Sara Kaplan, who groomed horses for him, and a nearby rider applied CPR but could not revive him.

Weaver, who began training in 1991, saddled 142 winners from 1,488 starters. His runners hit the board 481 times.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita announced Thursday it has canceled its Friday card, due to a dire weather forecast that calls for as much as five inches of rain in the area. The track will also not be open for simulcasting.

The storm is forecast to begin before dawn Friday and is expected to bring heavy rain, high winds, and the possibility of local flooding.

Santa Anita is scheduled to resume racing Saturday. Racing is also scheduled this weekend for Sunday and Monday, owing to the Prtesidents Day holiday on Monday.