ARCADIA, Calif. – Gunmetal Gray, who won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes in January, will be sidelined until 2020 after undergoing surgery on Sunday for a non-displaced condylar fracture diagnosed after a workout at Santa Anita that morning.

Terry Finley, the president and chief executive of West Point Thoroughbreds, which co-owns the colt, wrote in a text message on Monday that the surgery “went well” and that Gunmetal Gray will be out of action “for at least nine months.”

Veterinarian Wayne McIlwraith conducted the operation, Finley said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Friday’s 11-race program will serve as a nice prelude to Saturday’s 14-race Florida Derby Day card, with three stakes on the docket, including two Grade 3 events on the turf – the $100,000 Appleton at a mile, and the $100,000 Orchid at 1 3/8 miles for fillies and mares.

The $100,000 Skip Away, which lost its graded status this year, rounds out the stakes lineup.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Core Beliefs, who won his 2019 debut in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds on Saturday, may not race again until the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27.

Trainer Peter Eurton said on Monday that he would like to give Core Beliefs significant time between starts and would like to try the 4-year-old colt in longer races. The $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita is run at 1 1/4 miles.

“We could wait eight weeks,” Eurton said. “We want to keep him fresh.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Ian Wilkes had two options for Champagne Anyone’s next start: To stay local for Saturday’s Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, or to wait a week and head to Keeneland for the Ashland.

That decision was made for Wilkes on Saturday morning at Palm Meadows when Champagne Anyone worked five furlongs in 1:01.20, the second-best of 30 works at the distance on the tab.

Jockey Adam Beschizza and trainer Brad Cox won hotly contested titles at the 2018-19 Fair Grounds meet that ended Sunday.

Beschizza won six races closing week and topped James Graham 82 wins to 76 for his first riding title. Freshly arrived from an English journeyman jockey’s career that was stuck in idle, Beschizza nearly won the 2017-18 Fair Grounds crown, losing 66-65 to Shaun Bridgmohan, but despite Graham hanging tough to the end during a surprisingly robust meet, Beschizza, the main rider for successful trainer Joe Sharp, came out on top.

INDIANTOWN GAP, Fla. – With cows mooing in the background and the mosquitos buzzing around the clocker stand, Fountain of Youth winner Code of Honor turned in his final prep for Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby on Monday, going four furlongs in 48.40 seconds shortly after dawn in the bucolic setting at Payson Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita resumes racing on Friday for the first time in nearly four weeks with an eight-race program highlighted by the Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes.

Racing was halted after the March 3 program following a rash of equine fatalities since late December that led track officials to conduct an inspection of the main track. The surface underwent renovation before the main track reopened for training on March 11.

A win is a win is a win, and even if odds-on favorite Bricks and Mortar, one of the best turf horses in the country, needed the luck of a head bob to beat 62-1 shot Markitoff and capture the Muniz Memorial Handicap on Saturday at Fair Grounds, it was another win marked down on his résumé.

“Now when I look at his record – seven wins from nine starts, and the two defeats, he was in trouble – that’s pretty impressive,” said trainer Chad Brown.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A front-running victory by 58-1 outsider Big Mountain ($118.50) in Sunday’s nightcap resulted in carryovers in both the pick six and the NYRA Bets late pick five for Friday’s card at Aqueduct.

The pick six, which starts with race 4 (3:15 p.m. Eastern) and is a $2 minimum bet, will have a carryover of $123,511 after going unhit Saturday and Sunday. There was a carryover of $18,169 entering Sunday’s card.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gunmetal Gray, who won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes in January, was diagnosed with a condylar fracture after a workout at Santa Anita on Sunday and was scheduled to undergo surgery later in the day.

Terry Finley, president and chief executive of West Point Thoroughbreds, which co-owns the colt, said the injury was diagnosed at the barn in the minutes after the workout and “doesn’t appear to be career-threatening.”

“It looks fixable,” Finley said.