Led by 2-year-old champion Citizen Bull, 32 horses from the barn of Todd Pletcher, and a record 69 Japan-based horses, a total of 373 3-year-olds were nominated to this year’s Triple Crown during the early nomination phase.

The figure represents a 7.8 percent increase over the 346 early nominations in 2024 and is the highest figure since there were 418 early nominees in 2017.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Since Christmas, Kopion has developed into a star female sprinter, with two wins in graded stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita.

For her next start, Kopion may run in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile, a $300,000 race for fillies and mares at Santa Anita on March 8.

“I’m giving it some thought,” trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday.

Not only is Kopion winning well this winter, but she has been remarkably quick.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Martin Garcia is not only the regular rider of Citizen Bull, the champion 2-year-old male of 2024 and a stakes winner at Santa Anita on Saturday. He may be the colt’s greatest admirer.

On Sunday, a day after Citizen Bull won his third consecutive race in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes, Garcia described the colt as a “superstar” and predicts great achievements in coming months.

“I think he’ll do even better,” Garcia said. “He’s more mature.”

This is a good time to remember that the Triple Crown will be held in coming months.

When Rick Dutrow watches Captain Cook train in the morning, very little about the son of Practical Joke stands out to the veteran horseman. 

“He looks like a regular horse, a regular 9-to-5 horse, but he just gives these riders a feel that he can take them wherever he wants to go,” Dutrow said Sunday. “I swear to God, that’s the way it is with him, he’s a very unassuming horse, he doesn’t have much size to him, the whole thing is unbelievable that he can run like this.” 

Three stakes-caliber Quarter Horses trained by Monty Arrossa, including American Dreamin, the winner of the $1,046,800 Golden State Million Futurity at Los Alamitos last October, tested positive on four occasions for the class 1 medication carmoterol last fall, according to the California Horse Racing Board’s website.

Carmoterol is a bronchodilator not permitted to appear in post-race tests. As a class 1 medication, carmoterol positives are subject to potential lengthy suspensions and substantial fines, according to the racing board rule pertaining to medication violations.

Carlos Vaccarezza, a longtime owner and breeder who recently retired from a 10-year training stint, has launched an effort to create a new horsemen’s group in South Florida to represent trainers and owners at Gulfstream Park.

The California Authority of Racing Fairs, which oversees brief race meetings at four venues in the northern half of the state, announced Tuesday it will not seek additional racing dates, a decision widely expected in the racing community.

The organization ran summer meetings at county fairs in Pleasanton, Sacramento, and Ferndale, and an autumn meeting in Fresno.

With the permanent closure of Golden Gate Fields last June, and Tuesday’s announcement, there is little expectation racing will continue in Northern California.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Several of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s deep team of top-level 3-year-olds had workouts at Santa Anita on Saturday and Sunday as late-winter race plans begin to form.

Citizen Bull, the champion 2-year-old male of 2024, worked five furlongs in 59 seconds on Saturday, the quickest of 106 works at the distance. Citizen Bull is scheduled to start in Saturday’s Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes, a $200,000 race at a mile.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Speed King’s win in the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn Park called to mind some similarities with last year’s winner, Mystik Dan. 

For starters, both horses are owned by Arkansas residents. A second similarity involved a purple saddle towel.

“Both came out of the 10-hole, too,’” noted Ron Moquett, who trains Speed King.

Ted Bowman, the principal of the Triton Thoroughbreds stable that owns Speed King, is a resident of Hot Springs, Ark.