Trainer Ralph Irwin has been notably absent from the entries this year, beginning with the Oaklawn Park meet that wrapped in May and now at Louisiana Downs. It’s the first time the 69-year-old has ever been away from the track as he grew up in a racing family.

Irwin’s father, R.L. “Bob” Irwin, was a former assistant to the late Hall of Fame trainer Marion Van Berg and a winner of three training titles at Oaklawn. Ralph Irwin worked for his father and later the late Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg before taking out his trainer’s license in 1975 at Oaklawn.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Gift Box, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in April, will have his next start in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 17, trainer John Sadler said over the weekend.

Gift Box, who is owned by Pete and Kosta Hronis, was fourth as the 2-1 favorite in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 15, finishing 7 3/4 lengths behind winner Seeking the Soul.

CYPRESS, Calif.– High expectations were met when the 2-year-old colt Schrodinger won his career debut in a maiden special weight race at five furlongs at Los Alamitos on Sunday.

For owner Kaleem Shah and trainer Simon Callaghan, this was progress compared to a similar situation last year when their highly regarded filly Bellafina finished second in her debut at 1-2. Bellafina has since won six stakes and earned $1,102,125.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Omaha Beach, scratched as the morning-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby because of an entrapped epiglottis, could have his comeback in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 25.

Trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday that the Shared Belief Stakes, run for 3-year-olds at a mile, is being considered along with the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs at Saratoga on Aug. 24.

“I’d probably just stay home and get a race in him,” Mandella said.

CYPRESS, Calif. – A day after he became the third jockey to win the Kentucky Derby and Queen’s Plate Stakes in the same year, Flavien Prat rode at Los Alamitos in Southern California. He was focused as much on the future as the recent past.

His first of two mounts on the nine-race program was Schrodinger, a highly promising 2-year-old who won his debut at 2-5. Schrodinger is a candidate for the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 10.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Don Chatlos Jr. figured he’d eventually get back to training on his own. He just didn’t think it would come at this time or under these circumstances.

On Sunday morning, shortly after 5:30, Chatlos’s return to training after an 11-year hiatus became official when he sent Rowayton out for a half-mile workout in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park. Gone was the blue saddle towel with the H for Jerry Hollendorfer, in its place just a plain white towel.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Powerfulattraction, a debut winner in a five-furlong maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos on Saturday, will have her stakes debut in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 3.

Trainer Peter Eurton does not have many other options. The $200,000 Sorrento Stakes is the first of two lucrative stakes for 2-year-old fillies at the Del Mar summer meeting, followed by the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs on Aug. 31.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Queen Bee to You joined trainer Andrew Lerner’s stable in mid-June. By the end of the month, she had provided the 30-year-old trainer with his first stakes win.

Queen Bee to You recorded an upset victory in the $100,351 Bertrando Stakes for California-bred milers at Los Alamitos on Saturday, holding on by a nose over 16-1 Tule Fog. Queen Bee to You was the only filly or mare in a field of six.

“I knew she was sharp,” Lerner said. “She was on her toes. I knew she’d put in a good effort.”

CYPRESS, Calif. – Soi Phet, the popular 11-year-old multiple stakes winner, had his 64th and final start in the $100,351 Bertrando Stakes at Los Alamitos on Saturday.

There was not much for Soi Phet’s supporters to cheer. The gelding raced at the back of the field of six throughout the one-mile race and was never a factor, finishing last.

“Someone must have told him he was retired,” trainer Leonard Powell said after the race.

Soi Phet returned to the unsaddling area to a warm reception.

“I think the fans were happy to see him one more time,” Powell said.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Trainer William Morey was suspended 45 days and his assistant, Miguel Delgado, was given a 30-day ban on Saturday for violations of California Horse Racing Board rules related to the improper administration of a feed supplement in the hours before two horses were scheduled to start at Santa Anita on March 29.

The rulings were published on Saturday at Los Alamitos by Grant Baker, Luis Jauregui, and Kim Sawyer, the stewards at the Santa Anita meeting.

The penalties were announced even though Morey has apparently left racing.