MIAMI – It’s been five years since trainer Linda Rice has had a regular presence in South Florida. But that streak will come to an end this winter, with Rice having decided to send down a small portion of her large and successful New York-based stable to Gulfstream Park for the 2018-19 championship meet, which opens on Dec. 1.

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., has announced plans to build a seven-story hotel as part of a $100 million expansion project that will get under way following the end of the track’s 2019 season in May. The track also plans to expand its existing gaming area by 28,000 square feet and construct a 14,000-square-foot event center that can house 1,500 people.

The expansion of the 114-year-old Oaklawn will be one of the largest hospitality investments ever made in Arkansas, according to a press release. Planning for the project has been in the works since its last expansion in 2014.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has a handful of 2-year-olds under consideration for stakes at Delta Downs, Fair Grounds, and Remington Park.

Long Range Toddy and Tobacco Road are on deck first. Asmussen said Monday that both are being pointed to the $400,000 Springboard Mile on Dec. 16 at Remington Park. The horses finished first and third in the $100,000 Clever Trevor, a seven-furlong prep Nov. 2. Long Range Toddy was always prominent for a one-length win for owner Willis Horton. The son of Take Charge Indy earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 77.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The respective runners-up in each of the premier Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds will return to action Saturday at Churchill Downs when Knicks Go runs in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club and Restless Rider goes in the Grade 2 Golden Rod.

DEL MAR, Calif. – A rosary and funeral service will be held next week for Lou Villasenor, the popular member of Santa Anita’s television department who died last week.

Both the rosary and funeral will be held at the Church of Nativity, 3743 Tyler Ave. in El Monte. There is a viewing at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, with the rosary at 6:30 that night, followed by eulogies. The Catholic funeral mass will be Wednesday at 9 a.m., with burial immediately following at Resurrection Cemetery, 966 Potrero Grande Dr., in nearby Rosemead.

Lava Man, the Hall of Fame gelding turned stable pony who fought through a bout with colic in the summer, returned to trainer Doug O’Neill’s stable at Santa Anita earlier this week after a recent rest at a local farm.

O’Neill said on Wednesday that Lava Man will be eased into backstretch life in coming days to allow him to acclimate to surroundings. And, Lava Man needs a haircut.

“He looks fantastic,” O’Neill said. “He was a big, hairy dude. He’s regained his weight and he put on 25 pounds of belly. After a little clipping, he’ll look like the rock star that he is.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – Manon Lemaire Prat, the wife jockey Flavien Prat, gave birth to the couple’s first child, a daughter named Elana, late Tuesday night.

“Mother and baby are both healthy,” Prat’s agent, Derek Lawson, said at Del Mar on Wednesday morning.

As joyous as that news was, Lawson had to do some scrambling Wednesday morning trying to find a last-second mount for Prat in the Grade 2, $200,000 Seabiscuit Handicap on Saturday after being informed that Fly to Mars, who would have been one of the race favorites, would miss the race.

The Finger Lakes Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association has named Saratoga Giro the track’s 2018 horse of the year, ending the three-year reign of Breakin the Fever.

A 5-year-old owned by Henry Steadman and trainer Paul Barrow, Saratoga Giro has two wins, a second, and a third in four starts at the meet, which concludes Nov. 28.

Saratoga Giro scored his most important victory of the season in the George W. Barker Stakes in June. He finished ahead of Breakin the Fever in three of their four meetings this season.

Lacey Gaudet has had a career year, with highs in number of starters (218), victories (44), and purses earned ($1.42 million). She’s been on a remarkable roll the past two months.

In October, Team Gaudet, which includes her mother, Linda, went 7 for 19. Through Tuesday, they are 8 for 16 in November.

“I’ve never been on a streak like this,” Lacey Gaudet said. “It’s been terrifying some weeks trying to keep it going.”

Gaudet, 30, is the daughter of the late Maryland horseman Eddie Gaudet. She and her mother took over the stable when Eddie became ill in 2011.

Instagrand, the flashy 2-year-old who won each of his first two starts by more than 10 lengths before he was taken out of training and sent to Kentucky for a freshening, returned to Santa Anita this week to aim for a 3-year-old campaign.

Instagrand won the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes in early August at Del Mar and was expected to start favored in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity in early September before owner Larry Best decided to give him the rest of the year off.