Paul Oreffice, a highly successful business executive who owned horses through racing partnerships for four decades and served on the board of the New York Racing Association, died on Dec. 26 at his home in Paradise Valley, Ariz., according to his family. Oreffice was 97.

Born in Italy, Oreffice rose to the highest ranks of the Dow Chemical Company, becoming president and chief executive in 1978. In the 1980s, he began investing in Dogwood Stables, the racing partnership founded by Cot Campbell, and later invested with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners after Dogwood dissolved.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Bob Baffert’s four winners at Santa Anita on Saturday were a mix of 3-year-olds and older horses that could race at the highest level in the not-too-distant future.

Baffert’s success began when Rodriguez led throughout a one-mile maiden race for 3-year-olds in the second race and continued when the highly regarded Barnes and Romanesque finished first and second in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Cyclone State, the 3 1/2-length winner of Saturday’s Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct, is scheduled to ship Jan. 12 to South Florida, where he will train while his connections ponder his next start, though it is unlikely to come in the $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 1 at Aqueduct.

Trainer Chad Summers said Cyclone State came out of the Jerome in good order, but noted he has run seven times in six months and likely won’t make his next start until the end of February or early March.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Joy and laughter follow lighthearted trainer Lonnie Briley around, and on Sunday morning the 72-year-old was elated with Coal Battle, who won his second straight Kentucky Derby points race the day before in the $250,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park.

“He’s full of himself,” said Briley, a native of Opelousas, La. “He came back from the test barn last night bucking and kicking and playing.”