Los Alamitos will pay a $1 million bonus to the owner of a 3-year-old who wins the track’s $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby in July and goes on to win the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 24 and the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

The bonus is known as the $1 million Bolton Challenge and is being conducted in partnership with Bolton and Co., a Los Angeles-based insurance firm. The Los Alamitos Derby is for 3-year-olds, and the Pacific Classic and BC Classic are open to older horses.

Churchill Downs Inc. would “vigorously” dispute any decision by the Louisiana Racing Commission to suspend its license for Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans and its offtrack betting parlors, a top official of the company said Thursday during a conference call with analysts.

There will be no shortage of companies hoping to secure one of four casino licenses available for locations in upstate New York.

The New York Gaming Facility Location Board, a branch of the New York State Gaming Commission, said 22 companies have filed application fees to have their bids considered for one of the licenses. Each interested company was required to file a $1 million application fee by the close of business Wednesday.

Chitu was entered on Wednesday in the Derby Trial on Saturday night at Churchill Downs, but will scratch from that race, work Sunday at Churchill Downs, and be pointed to the Kentucky Derby on May 3, trainer Bob Baffert said Wednesday afternoon.

Baffert said Martin Garcia, who rode Chitu to victory in the Sunland Derby in his last start, would retain the mount.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

Steven Crist, the handicapping expert and publisher emeritus of Daily Racing Form, was released from a Long Island, N.Y., hospital Wednesday, according to family members, 2 1/2 weeks after suffering a major cardiac arrest at home.

Crist, 57, is mobile but is expected to face several weeks of recovery at home, family members said. Crist had been in the intensive-care unit of the hospital for most of his stay but was discharged from intensive care Tuesday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A new era begins at Santa Anita at 3 p.m. Pacific on Friday. The racetrack will launch its first spring-summer meeting, racing during dates previously held by Hollywood Park, which closed last December.

For fans of live racing at Santa Anita, the spring-summer meeting will mean more of the same. The track closed its winter-spring meeting only last Sunday and will race an additional 40 days through June 29. The two combined seasons are the longest stretch of live racing in the history of the 80-year-old venue.

Trainer Larry Jones was released from a Delaware hospital Tuesday, just three days after suffering multiple internal injuries in a spill at Delaware Park.

According to a post on the Facebook page of Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm, Jones “is resting comfortably in his own bed, in Newark, Del. Cindy and Larry are so happy to be home. He has some follow-up appointments to monitor his recovery and the doctor asked him not to go back to work for four weeks.”