ARCADIA, Calif. – An uneasy stew of anticipation of upcoming races mixed with a perilous immediate future at Santa Anita permeated the track on Monday morning, as top-class horses prepared for expected starts in two of the biggest races of the meet this Saturday, while camera crews from five local television stations did morning reports, all referencing the meet’s 23rd fatality, which occurred Sunday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – They’ll start Keeneland a day earlier than usual this year, because why wouldn’t you? While purists are harrumphing, track management is only too happy to turn an available Thursday into a celebration of spring, with a later post time and live music and other fan-friendly events on tap.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – An exacting encore will be difficult, if not nearly impossible. But Wesley Ward will give it his best shot.

“We’re ready to go,” Ward said early this week at Keeneland, where last year he swept the last 10 races for 2-year-olds at the spring meet. “Very ready, I think.”

Ward runners somehow were defeated in two 2-year-old races on opening day of the 2018 spring meet, but the trainer gave nobody else a turn the rest of the way by finishing with 10 winners from 16 starters in those 12 baby races. Even by his high standards, it was an incredible feat.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jaywalk finalized her preparation for her second start as a 3-year-old when she breezed a smooth half-mile here Sunday in 48.60 seconds. The defending divisional champion, she will face a rugged test Saturday when she lines up against the likes of Restless Rider and Feedback in a pivotal 82nd running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Ashland Stakes.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – War of Will, the only horse on the Kentucky Derby trail to have won more than one prep race this year – the Lecomte and Risen Star at Fair Grounds– has been training daily at Keeneland since emerging with a clean bill of health following his ninth-place finish in the March 23 Louisiana Derby.

“We’ve just been jogging him, mostly out of precaution,” said David Carroll, who is overseeing a sizable Mark Casse string here this meet. “We’ll bring him along slowly, but the good thing is we’ve got plenty of time” prior to fully committing for the May 4 Kentucky Derby.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Landeskog’s debut victory on Sunday at Oaklawn was closely watched from afar by a pair of professional hockey players for the Colorado Avalanche.

Landeskog won Sunday’s nightcap, a maiden special weight sprint, by 5 3/4 lengths. The horse is co-owned by Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson.

“He’s named for my close friend and teammate Gabriel Landeskog,” Johnson said Sunday. “Gabriel and I watched his namesake run in our hotel. We are on the road for a game.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Wonder Gadot, who is a leading candidate for Canadian Horse of the Year, on Saturday worked for the Apple Blossom Handicap, to be run on April 14. She breezed five-eighths by herself in a bullet 59 seconds, with Oaklawn Park clockers catching her galloping out six furlongs in 1:11.20.

David Cohen was aboard for trainer Mark Casse.

Wonder Gadot worked in the first set on a fast surface. Clockers had her opening quarter-mile in 23.60 seconds and her first three-eighths in 36.20.

Wonder Gadot, who was bred in Ontario, races for Gary Barber.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Escape Clause, who won the 18th stakes race of her career last month in a track-record performance, will soon get her first shot at Grade 1 glory. Trainer Don Schnell said Saturday that the 5-year-old mare is being pointed for the $750,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Synthesis joined George Papaprodromou’s stable in mid-March after a private purchase, leaving little time for the trainer to get to know him before a scheduled start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Santa Anita Derby.

Synthesis has only a maiden win from nine starts, and comes off a fourth-place finish going seven furlongs in the Grade 2 San Vicente. Understandably, Synthesis will be the longest price in the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby field.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hours after Arms Runner suffered a fatal injury in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita, track officials issued a statement stating studies will continue into a series of 23 equine fatalities that have occurred since the winter-spring meeting began in late December.

The statement did not detail any new policies. In March, the track implemented stricter medication rules and more oversight into which horses race or train.