Wood presents perfect spot for speedster

Yavapai Downs in Prescott Valley, Ariz., on Wednesday named Craig Braddick as its new track announcer for the meet beginning May 28. Braddock has previously called races at Arapahoe Park, Mountaineer. Turfway Park, and Louisiana Downs.

Daily Racing Form will conduct a series of three monthly handicapping contests called DRF Bets Tournament League starting in April, with the three winners earning a seat at the 2012 Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship as well as a free trip to Las Vegas.

The two-day hearing regarding the status of Richard Dutrow Jr.’s trainer’s license, scheduled for next Wednesday and Thursday by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, has been postponed until May 11-12, according to a board spokesman.

Meanwhile, at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting next Thursday in Schenectady, the racing board is expected to take up the matter whether to ban former owner/authorized agent Ernie Paragallo permanently from participation in racing in New York State.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Garrett Gomez will be represented by veteran jockey agent Tony Matos, effective immediately.

Gomez and agent Ron Anderson split early this week; Gomez hired Matos on Thursday. Matos has represented jockey Victor Espinoza for 13 years and will continue to do so.

“He was the best guy for the job, I’m really happy,” Gomez said. “And I was pleased with his concern for Victor.”

Matos agreed to take Gomez on the condition he could also represent Espinoza.

“I asked [Gomez] if I could keep Victor, and he said fine,” Matos said.

If Hamlet were recast in modern America, is there any doubt where it would be set? Over the last six years in Louisiana, a Shakespearean performance full of intrigue, betrayal, greed, and family rivalries has played out within the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), the non-profit group recognized by law as the voice of the more than 5,000 owners and trainers who race at the state’s four racetracks.

Who's Hot

NEW ORLEANS – Neil Howard is proof that you can’t keep a good man down. He’s one of the nicest trainers in the game, unfailingly polite, beyond considerate, his main concerns being his horses, his clients, and then, a distant third behind that photo finish, himself – always in that order.

Howard has proven for more than three decades that he knows how to train, witness a Preakness victory by Summer Squall in 1990, a Kentucky Oaks win by Secret Status in 2000, and a masterful campaign that landed Mineshaft the title as Horse of the Year in 2003.

Alex Brown found himself in the middle of the maelstrom between Barbaro’s 2006 Kentucky Derby win and the colt’s much-publicized 2007 death. As an exercise rider at Fair Hill, Md., where Barbaro was based with trainer Michael Matz, Brown got to know Barbaro and his connections personally. And as the keeper of a local website, he quickly became a central source of information about Barbaro after the colt’s Preakness day breakdown and long subsequent battle to survive.

Trainer of last year’s champion older horse, Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame, he is a native of New Orleans and has seen the story arc of his hometown’s recovery since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

Birthdate: Oct. 10, 1961, in New Orleans.

Family: wife, Nicole; son, Albert III; daughter, Greta