photo by: Barbara D. Livingston

Bill Mott doesn’t typically press hard with his first-time starters, so on Jan. 26, the tote board at Gulfstream Park spoke volumes about newcomer Close Hatches, a filly from the first crop of the Juddmonte Farms stallion First Defence who was vying for favoritism in a big field.

photo by: Justin N. Lane

As 2013 began, the bar was already set high for Beholder.

photo by: Shigeki Kikkawa

As he glanced at the board following the running of the fifth race at Golden Gate Fields on Oct. 19, track announcer Michael Wrona was taken aback by the fact that the debuting 2-year-old he had just called to victory had run six furlongs in 1:09.53.

photo by: Tom Keyser

In the week leading up to the Nov.

photo by: Justin N. Lane

She’s a Tiger holds the dubious distinction of being only the second horse ever to have her number taken down from first in a Breeders’ Cup race.

photo by: Tom Keyser

If sheer confidence by itself could somehow directly influence the numbers on the odds board, then Ria Antonia would have been a rather short 3-2 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies instead of a big longshot.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park took entries for Friday’s season opener Tuesday, and despite a frigid blast that interrupted training earlier in the week, fields are large for the first card of the meet. There were 89 horses entered in nine races, for an average of 9.8 starters a race. The feature is the $100,000 Dixie Belle for 3-year-old fillies, which goes with a field of nine, including Mountaineer Park stakes winner Silver Valley.

D. Wayne Lukas, the Hall of Famer who has trained 24 Eclipse Award winners – not including the trainers he has tutored during his career – has been selected for the 2013 Eclipse Award of Merit for “a lifetime of outstanding achievement,” the organizers of the Eclipse Awards announced Tuesday.

The Jockey Club will continue to fund two marketing programs designed to promote the sport to younger demographics through 2015, the organization announced Tuesday.

The programs are associated with a brand launched by The Jockey Club in 2012 called “America’s Best Racing.” One program involves funding a bus that travels to major racing events to promote the sport, while the other involves hiring “brand ambassadors” to promote the sport in four major markets and their surrounding regions, The Jockey Club said.

The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, a non-profit organization founded by a coalition of racing groups to support the industry’s efforts to care for retired horses, will receive the 2013 Special Eclipse Award, the organizers of the awards announced Monday.

At the end of 2013, the TAA distributed approximately $1 million in grants to 23 organizations it has accredited. The organization was founded in 2012 to help the racing industry address persistent concerns about the fate of retired horses.