Jockey Leslie Mawing won his 2,000th race on Thursday when he rode Grand Baylee to victory in the fifth race at Emerald Downs, according to Equibase.

The induction ceremony will take place Friday at the Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion, across the street from Saratoga Race Course. The ceremony, which is open to the public, begins at 10:30 a.m.

Retired trainer is the son of the late Bob Wheeler, who was to be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Friday. He was interviewed by telephone earlier this week.

What was your reaction when you found out your father was finally getting into the Hall of Fame? I was really happy that he was finally in. I thought he should have gotten in a long time ago, but that’s neither here nor there now.

Rhonda Sylvester, a 50-year-old former airline employee from Little Rock, Ark., has been awarded $15,000 for accruing the most points halfway through the National Handicapping Championship Tour, which is sponsored by Daily Racing Form .

Sylvester has won two tournaments and placed third and fifth in two other tournaments six months into the season. She has already earned a berth in the National Handicapping Championship on Jan. 25-26 in Las Vegas.

Santa Anita Park has been selected to host the 2013 Breeders’ Cup pending the approval of a final host-site agreement, according to several officials involved in the discussions.

If the final contract details are worked out and approved by the Breeders’ Cup board, Santa Anita will become the host site for the two-day Breeders’ Cup event for the seventh time total and the fourth time since 2008. The track will be the site of this year’s event on Nov. 2-3, and it was also the host for the 2008 and 2009 events.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Entering the 1992 Saratoga meet jockey John Velazquez was struggling. He was involved in a spill earlier that year, had finished the Belmont meet on a 7-for-100 skid and was in need of an agent.

Velazquez, 21 at the time, thought about going home to Puerto Rico. Instead, Velazquez called on his former agent Ralph Theroux Sr., to see if he would work for him again.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Paynter, who became ill within 48 hours of his powerful victory in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 29, left that track July 31 bound for the Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center in Ringoes, N.J., according to the required paperwork filed in the Monmouth Park stall office when he left the premises, an employee of the stall office said Wednesday.

The Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center is located approximately 60 miles west of Monmouth Park. According to the center’s website, one of the services offered is internal medicine.

Churchill Downs Inc. had record net earnings in the second quarter of 2012 of $48.6 million, according to financial statements it released late on Monday. Revenue in the quarter of $270.8 million also set a record, the company said.

Know More, the winner of the Best Pal Stakes in his racing debut on Sunday at Del Mar, will be pointed to the Grade 1, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day here on Sept. 5, trainer Doug O’Neill said after the race, but he and owner Paul Reddam said they are not going to force anything with a 2-year-old colt who is talented but lacks experience.

"We’ll think that direction. But we don’t need to be in a hurry," Reddam said. "None of this counts toward next year anyway."

Pete Pedersen, one of the most respected racing officials of all-time and a winner of the Eclipse Award of Merit, died on Sunday at age 92 from complications of a recent fall, his longtime companion, Marlene Crain, reported on Monday.

Pedersen collapsed and fell just outside his home in Arcadia, Calif., near Santa Anita two weeks ago, and since then had been in the critical care unit at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Calif.