OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Diversify, recently crowned New York-bred Horse of the Year, will soon be returning to New York to begin preparations for his 6-year-old campaign.

Diversify is at the Fair Hill Training Center in Northeast, Md. Jonathan Thomas, who was recently given the horse to train by owner Ralph Evans, said Diversify will likely ship to Belmont by mid-April.

Thomas said Diversify has been at Fair Hill for about five weeks, in part to take advantage of that facility’s Aquatred, a pool for horses.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Assael Espinoza begins life as a journeyman rider on Sunday, and he hopes his term as an apprentice since early 2018 can provide the groundwork to remain a top-10 rider in Southern California.

Through Thursday, Espinoza was tied for 10th in the jockey standings at the meet with 14 wins. Heriberto Figueroa is the leading apprentice at this meeting with 23 wins, good for seventh place in the standings.

Espinoza rode with a five-pound apprentice claim through Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – After Sunday, Santa Anita will run two Friday-Sunday weeks to start the spring-summer segment of the track’s marathon six-month meeting.

There are two graded stakes planned for that period – the Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup at 1 1/2 miles on dirt April 14 and the Grade 2 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on April 20.

A four-day racing week is scheduled for April 25-28.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The stakes schedule at the summer meeting at Del Mar, which runs from July 17 to Sept. 2, is very similar to those of recent seasons.

The track announced a calendar of 40 stakes, one fewer than last year, with the $75,000 CERF Stakes having been dropped. The race was run on Labor Day weekend in the past.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – The Gulfstream Park Championship meet is over, but trainer Todd Pletcher still has a major presence in the area at his winter headquarters at Palm Beach Downs, where he worked more than two dozen horses on Friday morning. Several worked for upcoming stakes assignments around the country, and he also worked several sets of unraced 2-year-olds.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Edgard Zayas made a triumphant return to the saddle after being sidelined more than three months due to injury when guiding first-time starter Buddy’s Run to an easy 10 3/4-length victory in the second race on Thursday’s opening day program of the spring-summer meet at Gulfstream.

OZONE PARK N.Y. – Vino Rosso, who won last year’s Wood Memorial after finishing fourth in the Tampa Bay Derby, will seek to become a Grade 1 winner in Saturday’s $400,000 Carter Stakes.

Vino Rosso came off a 6 1/2-month layoff to win the $150,000 Stymie Stakes going a mile here on March 9. That victory made him 3 for 3 at Aqueduct, including a debut victory going seven furlongs in 2017.

OZONE PARK N.Y. – While the Wood Memorial has not yet proved a path to success in the Kentucky Derby for trainer Todd Pletcher, the Tampa Bay Downs route has been quite productive in the Wood Memorial for the seven-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner.

Pletcher has won the Wood five times, second only to the seven victories recorded by trainer Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons. Pletcher’s last three Wood winners – Vino Rosso (2018), Outwork (2016), and Verrazano (2013) – have come to Aqueduct via stakes at Tampa.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito ventured to Oaklawn Park with a division of horses for the first time in his career this winter, and one of the highlights of his meet has been the development of Lenstar.

The 5-year-old son of Shackleford has won back-to-back allowances in his two starts over the local strip.

“Lenstar really came around here,” Zito said Sunday. “He likes it. He’s going to run in the Oaklawn Mile. He deserves it.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita will not run any races on its unique hillside turf course this weekend after a horse sustained a fatal injury in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on the course Sunday.

“We’ll pause for now,” said Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, the track’s parent company.

He did not speculate on when racing will resume on the hillside course but said track officials “will look at data” of races on the course. After Sunday’s program, racing is not scheduled to resume until Friday, April 12.