Jason Beem will take over the announcing duties at Monmouth Park until full-time race caller Frank Mirahmadi returns to the Oceanport, N.J., track on June 28 following the conclusion of the Santa Anita Park season.

Beem, 38, called the races at Portland Meadows for 10 years through 2014. He also was the announcer at Louisiana Downs, River Downs and Emerald Downs before taking a sabbatical from the profession. He returned to the mic last fall to fill in for Peter Aiello at Gulfstream Park West.

A native of Washington, Beem has never been to Monmouth before.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With a monstrous couple of weeks that included six stakes wins, Javier Castellano has set a record for a non-Breeders’ Cup meet at Keeneland with $1,905,914 in mount earnings. The 41-year-old Venezuela native will fall one shy of the most stakes wins at a meet (seven, Pat Day, 1998 fall) because he will miss the last seven cards to ride primarily at Belmont Park prior to returning to Kentucky for Derby weekend.

LEXINGTON, KY. – Heart to Heart has run his last race. A perennial fan favorite who got his name because of a distinctive heart-shaped marking on his forehead, Heart to Heart has been retired as a two-time Grade 1 winner who won 15 of 41 starts and $2,035,090. He finished last of seven Friday in the Maker’s 46 Mile.

Brian Lynch, who trained the 8-year-old Ontario-bred horse for owner Terry Hamilton, said Heart to Heart will be stabled at nearby Hidden Brook Farm for the time being, with stud plans still to be announced.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The top three finishers in the Lexington Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland are all headed to Churchill Downs, but not necessarily to the Kentucky Derby.

In fact, Owendale, who earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure with his breakthrough triumph in the Grade 3 Lexington, won’t even be bothering with the May 4 Derby. The 20 points he earned mark his initial appearance on the Derby scoreboard and wouldn’t be enough to get him into the field. Brad Cox, who trains the Into Mischief colt for the Rupp Racing of Jim Rupp, said the May 19 Preakness is under serious consideration.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Several Southern California-based trainers have sent horses to Kentucky this spring, or plan to do so in coming weeks, at a time when Santa Anita has had difficulty filling races and officials are contemplating eliminating Thursdays for the remainder of the spring-summer meeting.

Southern California-based trainers Bob Baffert, Richard Baltas, Phil D’Amato, Ron Ellis, Bob Hess Jr., Peter Milller, Jeff Mullins, Doug O’Neill, Shelbe Ruis, and John Sadler have had runners at Keeneland since the meeting began there on April 4.

There’s new ownership, a new dirt surface, but when it comes to racing it’s pretty much the same old, same old when Indiana Grand launches a marathon 120-day race meeting with a 10-race program Tuesday.

Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Oaklawn Park, April 13, 2019
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)
Winner: Omaha Beach, by War Front
Trainer: Richard Mandella
Jockey: Mike Smith
Owner: Fox Hill Farms Inc.
Beyer Speed Figure: 101

ARCADIA, Calif. – Months ago, Hard Not to Love was so difficult to handle that at times she had to be walked from the racetrack to the barn after exercise.

A patient approach to the daily racetrack routine allowed Hard Not to Love to settle into her surroundings.

“We needed to take it in baby steps,” trainer John Shirreffs recalled on Sunday morning.

Shirreffs’s methods are working. On Saturday at Santa Anita, Hard Not to Love won for the second time in as many starts in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Omaha Beach emerged from his Saturday win in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in “great shape” and will soon head to Churchill Downs to begin preparations for the Kentucky Derby, trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Maximum Security was back on the work tab Saturday for the first time since his wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby two weeks ago – although not in the manner one might expect from an undefeated 3-year-old considered to be among the leading candidates just three weeks down the road in the Kentucky Derby.