LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It was a whirlwind 36 hours for jockey Umberto Rispoli, who, in his attempted travels between California and Kentucky, wound up experiencing more about the Atlanta airport than he would have liked.

“I walked all around the Atlanta airport for 5 1/2 hours,” Rispoli said. “I know all about terminal B and C. I couldn’t get lost in Atlanta.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn has proposed a 64-date meet for next season that includes a four-days-a-week racing schedule in February, March and April. There would be a more than three week break in January.

The calendar is pending approval of the Arkansas Racing Commission, which is scheduled to meet Thursday.

Oaklawn has raced three days a week for most of the current season, which ends Saturday.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Agent Bill Castle, who through last month at Oaklawn Park was representing jockey Ramon Vazquez, said Saturday he is leaving his role in the racing industry after being diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. He has returned to his native New York.

Castle, 60, has been receiving an aggressive series of treatments for polycythemia vera, a form of blood cancer. He is home, but has to regularly have blood, which regenerates, drawn out of his system at Mount Sinai Hospital.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Lonnie Briley, who will saddle millionaire Coal Battle in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, is not the only accomplished trainer in his family.

Ronald Briley, a cousin who died in 2020, was inducted into the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association’s Hall of Fame on April 12, according to a press release from the organization. The ceremony was at Lonnie Briley’s home track of Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La.  

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The question heading into the Kentucky Oaks draw was not who would be favored, but how big a favorite Good Cheer would be. And indeed, the undefeated filly, winner of the Fair Grounds Oaks in her most recent start, was installed at a prohibitive 6-5 for Friday’s 151st running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Oaks.

Closest to her to start the wagering will be Ashland Stakes winner La Cara, at 6-1 on Mike Battaglia’s morning line.

Harness racing will cease at Cal-Expo in Sacramento, Calif., after the current season ends on May 2. The board of directors of the state fair grounds voted on Friday to terminate a lease agreement with the operators of the race meeting, according to a statement released by Cal-Expo.

The statement indicated the board of directors acted on the recommendation of its staff. The current meeting began last December. A fall meeting was scheduled to begin in November.

CHURCHILL DOWNS
Saturday, April 26
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature: 56
Track: Sloppy/Good/Fast

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A drying-out surface had several trainers with Kentucky Derby and Oaks contenders handicapping the condition of the racetrack as the morning progressed before deciding if and when to send their respective horses out to work Saturday at Churchill Downs.  

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Having worked around Kentucky Derby winners Unbridled and Street Sense as well as race participants Vicar and McCraken, trainer Ian Wilkes knows there’s little margin for error to get to the world’s most famous horse race.

“You can’t have things go wrong, you have to keep the timing right,” Wilkes said.

With a week to go before Kentucky Derby 151, Wilkes believes the timing is right for Burnham Square to run his best race.

“He’s right where I want him,” Wilkes said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tappan Street, the Grade 1 Florida Derby winner and major player for the Kentucky Derby, suffered a condylar fracture to his right foreleg as the result of a workout Saturday morning at Churchill Downs and will miss the race, his connections said Saturday.

The injury is not considered life threatening or career ending. Tappan Street was scheduled to undergo surgery Sunday at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky.