OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Durkin’s Call earned a career-best 87 Beyer Speed Figure for his 7 1/4-length victory in Sunday’s $100,000 Gander Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.

The victory was the third from nine outs for Durkin’s Call, who was making his first start since being privately purchased last month by owners Adam Wachtel, Peter Deutsch, and Christopher Dunn and turned over to Bill Mott.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After finishing second in the standings each of the last five winters, trainer Linda Rice is poised to win her first Aqueduct winter meet title this season.

Following a month during which she won 16 races from her last 50 starters, Rice has 43 wins at the meet, eight more than three-time defending winter meet champion Rudy Rodriguez. There are six days remaining in the winter meet, which ends on March 31.

Imperial Hint was part of an American contingent booked on an overseas flight this week to the March 30 Dubai World Cup program at Meydan after trainer Luis Carvajal Jr. pronounced the 6-year-old horse “ready to go” following a bullet five-furlong workout Friday at his Tampa base.

Imperial Hint was scheduled to ship Monday to Gulfstream Park before joining a handful of other Dubai-bound horses on a Tuesday flight out of Fort Lauderdale.

David Flores collected many great memories in his 30-plus years of riding in the United States and winning more than 3,600 races. He created another indelible memory Friday at Tampa Bay Downs when a 3-year-old colt named Higgins gave him his first victory as a trainer.

“This is what it [felt] like when I was riding,” Flores, 51, told publicity at the Oldsmar, Fla., track. “It reminds me of how exciting our sport is, and I’m grateful to be around good horses and great people on the other side of the game now.”

There will be a pick-6 carryover of $133,982 at Aqueduct on Friday after the wager went unhit for two straight cards.

There was a carryover of $27,267 entering Sunday’s card. There was $187,228 wagered into the pool on Sunday.

All tickets were effectively blown up when Manifest Destiny pulled off a 60-1 upset in race 7 - the fourth leg of the sequence - besting 7-5 favorite Flatexcel. Manifest Destiny returned $123.50 to win.

Mucho Gusto will break from the rail in a field of 10 for the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby on March 24. He was installed as the 8-5 morning line favorite during a ceremonial draw of post positions Sunday at Sunland Park in New Mexico.

The Sunland Derby will reward its first four finishers with Kentucky Derby eligibility points on a sliding scale of 50-20-10-5. The 1 1/8-mile race also anchors a 12-race program at Sunland. There are seven stakes on the card worth a cumulative $1.5 million.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jeff Bloom and trainer Steve Asmussen on Sunday morning were still savoring the performance Midnight Bisou had put on in the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri Stakes on Saturday at Oakawn. She shuttled up the rail for a one-length win over a field that included fellow Grade 1 winners Elate, champion Shamrock Rose, and Eskimo Kisses.

“Goosebumps,” co-owner Bloom said of Midnight Bisou’s race Saturday.

“She’s next level,” said Asmussen.   

Omaha Beach and Long Range Toddy, who won divisions of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes on Saturday, both emerged from their races in good order, and it is not impossible that they could face one another next time in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 13.

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., handled $16,221,639 from all sources on its 11-race Rebel Day card, according to figures provided by the track.

The handle is the highest for a single program at Oaklawn outside of an Arkansas Derby Day, according to track official David Longinotti.

Oaklawn featured four stakes Saturday, including two divisions of the Grade 2, $750,000 Rebel.

Oaklawn handled $13,924,084 on its live races offtrack, and another $2,297,554 ontrack. Attendance ontrack was an estimated 45,500.

Jockey John Bisono broke five ribs and sustained other internal injuries at Parx Racing on Monday when he was unseated during the race 3 gallop-out after finishing second aboard In Equality.

Bisono, 46, is hospitalized at Aria-Jefferson Health Torresdale in Philadelphia with broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and a bruised kidney. His agent, Jim Boulmetis, estimates he will miss two to three months.

According to Boulemtis, In Equality was "sideswiped" while pulling up after the race and "ducked out." Bisono "was thrown, landing on his back."