NBC and its sister network NBCSN will televise 18 graded stakes races this summer and fall in 10 telecasts as part of its coverage of prep races guaranteeing spots in the Breeders’ Cup event, the network and the Breeders’ Cup announced on Thursday.

Prospect Park, who finished a dull fourth in the Santa Anita Derby last Saturday, is off the Kentucky Derby trail after being found to have a high white blood cell count, trainer Cliff Sise Jr. said on Thursday.

Sise on Sunday had said he was concerned about Prospect Park’s demeanor in the hours leading up to the race on Saturday, noting that he was unusually quiet. A check of the colt’s temperature that afternoon was normal, so he ran, but subsequent diagnostic work revealed the elevated white cell count.

Attendees of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby cards at Churchill Downs in Louisville this year will no longer be able to get back into the track if they leave, a measure Churchill is putting in place to prevent counterfeit sales of tickets and wrist bracelets, the company said on Thursday.

In a release, Churchill said some patrons on Oaks and Derby days were leaving the track to use their tickets and bracelets to quickly produce counterfeits of the items. The release stated that re-entry bans are a “common security policy for major sporting and entertainment events.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine’s 60th season commences Saturday with the final year of racing on a Polytrack main track, which will be replaced in December by another synthetic surface, Tapeta.

Racing will be conducted with a 1 p.m. Eastern post time every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Holiday Monday cards with the same start time are May 18, Aug. 3, Sept. 7, and Oct. 12. The Canada Day program July 1 also begins at 1 p.m.

Wednesday racing, with a 6:45 p.m. post time, begins May 27 and will be staged throughout the meet, except following a Monday card.

The Horseplayers Association of North America, a coalition of racing fans, has named Kentucky Downs in Franklin the top racetrack in the U.S., displacing Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., which had held the association’s top spot since it launched the rankings seven years ago.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The trainer-jockey combination of David Jacobson and Cornelio Velasquez was the key to unlocking Wednesday’s pick six at Aqueduct as the duo won four consecutive races in the sequence.

There was a pick six carryover of $89,776 entering the card, and an additional $398,286 was wagered into the pool.

Jacobson had the universal single in Aleander in race 5. Despite a four-wide trip, Aleander, the 1-20 favorite, won by two lengths, returning $2.10 to win.

Far Right
Notional – Zindi, by Vindication
(Bred in Kentucky by Nossab LLC and Patrick J. Crowley; $2,500 purchase by Jon Jazdzewski at 2013 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale)

Former Thoroughbred jockey Ricardo Alfredo Valdes, one of three men indicted in May 2009 in separate criminal cases involving an array of alleged illegal activity including attempting to influence the outcome of horse races in Michigan and Florida, was sentenced Tuesday to one year plus one day in federal prison and an additional three years of supervised release. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith in Detroit. 

The Kentucky Derby preps are to the Kentucky Derby as the National Hockey League regular season is to the NHL playoffs. It is a months-long grind that began last fall, it ends on Saturday, and it involves quite a bit of scoreboard watching to see who’s in and who’s out.

A maximum of 20 horses can start in the Derby. If it overfills, then the points earned in the prep races will determine who gets to run. For those on or near the bubble right now, it’s nervous time.

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