Robert Kulina is keeping tabs on the tracks trying to lure Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and acknowledges Monmouth Park isn't a lock to get the Triple Crown winner for the Haskell Invitational. But he is "cautiously optimistic that at the end of the day, he'll come here."

Southern California racetrack executives are scheduled to meet with a California Horse Racing Board committee at Los Alamitos on Wednesday for an initial public discussion on 2016 racing dates.

Proposals recently filed with the racing board by officials with Del Mar, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita range from a calendar similar to what was offered in 2014 and this year to a calendar with significant changes.

Group stakes in Brazil and Peru on Sunday could produce runners for Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland on Oct. 30-31.

In Brazil, Quinhao, the winner of the Group 1 Grande Prix Sao Paulo on May 3, is the leading contender against 16 rivals in the Group 1 Grande Premio Brasil at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Hipodromo de Gavea in Rio. The winner of the race receives a fees-paid berth for the BC Turf on Oct. 31, provided the horse is nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program.

CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome has shown improvement from a foot abscess in recent days that prevented a start in Wednesday’s Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England and is tentatively scheduled to return to the United States in early July.

Trainer Art Sherman said on Friday at Los Alamitos Race Course that he has been in contact with majority owner Perry Martin and that the Arlington Million at Arlington Park on Aug. 15 is a summertime goal for California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year.

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Southern California is exploring a plan to attach a $5 million bonus to the Pacific Classic if Triple Crown winner American Pharoah runs in the race, Del Mar officials said on Thursday.

Although Triple Crown winner American Pharoah’s next start is not yet etched in stone, East Coast race fans seem convinced that he will be Monmouth Park-bound for the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on Sunday, Aug. 2.

Reserved seating for Haskell Day is completely sold out, according to track officials. Monmouth has approximately 13,000 seats, and while the track generally sells out for the Haskell, it is unprecedented for them to be spoken for this early in the season.

A Kentucky circuit court judge has thrown out a one-year suspension levied by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in 2014 on trainer Daniel Werre, citing the commission’s improper reclassification of a drug found in one of Werre’s horses after a race at Turfway Park in 2012.

The New York legislature on Tuesday passed a bill that will allow New York racetracks to run live race cards and accept wagers on Palm Sunday, ending a decades-long prohibition.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Realistic expectations have no place in the 2-year-old division at Santa Anita this spring.

Since the first race for juveniles was run April 30, one pair of owners has dominated the action. Paul and Zillah Reddam, best known for winning the 2012 Kentucky Derby with I’ll Have Another, have had six 2-year-olds win maiden special weight races.

“You can’t expect that,” Paul Reddam said last weekend. “You can always dream, but this is remarkable.”

The Maryland Racing Commission on Tuesday approved a proposal from Laurel Park to open its summer meet one month earlier than initially planned, with the new opening scheduled for the Fourth of July holiday weekend.