LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Holthus, whose training career spanned nearly 60 years and made him a revered figure among his Midwestern peers, died early Tuesday at his home in Louisville. He was 77.

GROVE CITY, Ohio – The Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association has signed an agreement with all three of Ohio’s Thoroughbred tracks for racing dates for 2012.

River Downs will run 93 days, beginning April 27 and run through Labor Day, Sept. 3.

“That is basically what was approved for last year, although we lost some days due to the flooding” said Dave Basler, executive director of the Ohio horsemen’s association. Heavy rain in the spring caused the nearby Ohio River to overflow, disrupting the meet,

Steve Asmussen gave himself a nice birthday present by becoming just the fifth trainer in North American racing history to hit the 6,000-win milestone when Basalt captured the first race Friday evening at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.

Asmussen, who turned 46 on Friday, was watching at his home with his wife, Julie, and three sons in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Tex.

“I absolutely want to share this with my owners and my staff,” said Asmussen. “My longtime assistants, Scott [Blasi], Darren[(Fleming], Toby [Sheets] – this is as much their accomplishment as it is mine.”

Bergstein excelled with an uncanny vision for racing

Horse racing has been my life and bread, and the passing of Stan Bergstein was deafening news to this senior turf writer ("Stan Bergstein, racing maven, dies," Nov. 4). One week before his death we exchanged e-mails. I was seeking his view on a drug issue. His answer was brief. I sensed something was wrong.

Trainer Graham Motion, who won the Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom, has been chosen as the 2011 winner of Big Sport of Turfdom Award by the Turf Publicists of America. The annual honor is bestowed upon a person or group of people who enhance coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with media and Thoroughbred racing publicists.

There was a time when the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, first run at Churchill Downs in 1920, played a significant role in determining the champion 2-year-old of the season.

But, the advent of the Breeders’ Cup series in 1984 changed the role and positioning on the calendar of numerous fall stakes races from coast to coast.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Santa Anita is scheduled to run five-day racing weeks in March and April next year, an expansion of the schedule from the corresponding meeting conducted earlier this year.

The track received approval for a 79-day winter-spring meeting from Dec. 26 through April 22 at Thursday’s meeting of the California Horse Racing Board. Racing will be conducted four days a week in January and February, and expand to five days a week in March and April. There will three days of racing on Mondays on holidays in January and February: Jan. 2 and 16 and Feb. 20.

An attorney, he won the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, defeating 114 other handicappers, largely as a result of betting $7,000 to win on Drosselmeyer at odds of 14-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Age: 40

Hometown: New Orleans, La.

Family: wife, Robin; daughters, Isabelle, Olivia, and Ava

May 1964: Kentucky veterinarian Alex Harthill treats Northern Dancer with Lasix, unknown and illegal, before the Kentucky Derby. Northern Dancer beats Hill Rise by a nose. Harthill would popularize Lasix in the years to come.

1974: Maryland is the first state to legalize Lasix for raceday use.

Soon after leaving the service in the mid-1940s, Mel Stute went to work as a groom for trainer Yorkie McLeod at the old Tanforan Racetrack near San Francisco. McLeod had a funny way of trying to prevent his horses from the age-old problem of bleeding. He would ask his young groom to wrap copper wire around the base of a horse’s tail before a race − thin, eight-inch strips of the sort you would find in hardware stores.