ARCADIA, Calif. – Jay Privman, the longtime national correspondent for Daily Racing Form, was honored with the Joe Hirsch Award for Outstanding News Reporting at the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters annual awards dinner Wednesday night at the Derby Restaurant.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jeff Bloom has all the appearances of a personable human being, but Bloom’s hackles rise when asked about the decision late in the spring of 2018 to make a trainer change with Midnight Bisou. It’s old news, Bloom says, ancient, calcified history long since settled. The move from the esteemed California trainer Bill Spawr had everything to do with an East Coast campaign Bloom envisioned for Midnight Bisou. Because Bloom has a heart, it must have been a tough choice. A year and a half later, no one could say it wasn’t the right choice.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Stick around long enough as a trainer – and Richard Mandella has been around long enough to get a plaque in the Hall of Fame – and you’ll deal with plenty of setbacks.

“It’s part of a trainer’s life. We deal with it here every day,” he said at his Santa Anita barn.

But nothing before has compared to what Mandella navigated this year with Omaha Beach, whose defection from the Kentucky Derby just days before he would have started as the favorite probably moved to the top of a list Mandella would rather not compile.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Carlos Martin believes the last time he was in California was in 1987 when his father, the trainer Jose Martin, ran Groovy in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Hollywood Park. Only 18 years old at the time, Carlos Martin took Groovy’s fourth-place finish as the 2-5 favorite in the Sprint hard.

“I think I stayed in the hotel room for about three days,” Martin said. “It was just sad the horse got beat. He was such a great horse.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Churchill Downs will build a hotel and casino-gambling facility along the track’s first turn, along with new permanent seating in the area, the parent company of the Louisville track announced late on Wednesday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Dispute if you want the “Championships” part of “Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships,” but there’s undeniable truth in the “World” part of it.

There are 19 overseas horses, hailing from Korea, Japan, Ireland, England, and France, entered to compete in Saturday Breeders’ Cup races. The overseas invaders have legitimate chances in all the day’s turf races save the Turf Sprint, so let’s have a look at them race by race.

Turf

ARCADIA, Calif. – A widely varied wagering menu and guaranteed pools await horseplayers in the 36th Breeders’ Cup this weekend at Santa Anita. Those offerings include:

◗ Three two-day daily doubles ($1 minimum) linking the following races: Juvenile Turf (race 6, Friday) with the Turf (race 11, Saturday); Juvenile Fillies (race 7, Friday) with the Distaff (race 10, Saturday); and the Juvenile (race 9, Friday) with the Classic (race 12, Saturday).

◗ A $1 pick six on races 4-9 Friday and races 7-12 Saturday.

Average daily handle at the recently completed Monmouth Park meet in Oceanport, New Jersey, rose slightly compared to a shorter meet last year, according to figures distributed by the track on Wednesday.

All-sources handle at the Belmont Park 2019 fall meet was $274,929,718, a 2.2 percent increase over the 2018 Belmont fall meeting, according to figures released Wednesday by the New York Racing Association.

Meanwhile, ontrack handle was $32,523,572, a 2.6 percent decline from the figure of $33,396,906 recorded a year ago.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Breeders’ Cup will have a team of 30 veterinarians monitoring the condition of horses participating in the races at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday, an increase from 24 the last time the event was held at Santa Anita in 2016.

Speaking at an hour-long press conference at Santa Anita on Wednesday morning, Deborah Lamparter of the Breeders’ Cup veterinary teams said inspections had been completed on more than 90 percent of the horses entered in Breeders’ Cup as of Wednesday morning, and the team planned to complete inspections by Thursday.