ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Neil Pessin dropped a claim slip before the second race Jan. 1 at Fair Grounds on a 4-year-old filly named Holiday Music. Pessin and the group of owners that ponied up $30,000 for the claim were the only ones in for the horse. Holiday Music won, but that hardly was the point. The filly resided at Pessin’s Fair Grounds barn for one day before being shipped off the racetrack and on to Kentucky. Then the waiting game began.

Mindy Willis is on pace to have the best year of her training career, which dates to 1982. She finished third in the Sam Houston standings in March behind Steve Asmussen and Karl Broberg and has brought that momentum to Lone Star Park.

Willis through Thursday was tied for fourth in the standings behind Broberg and Asmussen, whose local divisions had won a combined 91 of the 234 races run at the meet through Sunday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Violet Blue earned an opportunity to run in a stakes race next time out with a powerful 4 1/4-length victory in a first-level allowance race at Belmont on Wednesday.

In her first start since November, Violet Blue rallied from last with an eye-catching move around the turn before pulling away in the stretch to win handily while covering 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.85. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 90.

Trainer Jimmy Toner credited Karl Keegan with preparing Violet Blue so well during the winter before sending her to Toner about a month ago.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Christophe Clement has laid out a tentative plan to get Disco Partner and Pure Sensation – the first- and third-place finishers from the Grade 2 Jaipur on June 9 – to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint this fall at Churchill Downs.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Bill Mott is still figuring out where to bring the Grade 1 winner Elate back to the races. After he decided to skip Saturday’s Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs, Mott basically is deciding between the Grade 2, $700,000 Delaware Handicap on July 14 and the Grade 3, $200,000 Shuvee Handicap on July 29 at Saratoga.

The main summer objective for Elate is the Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 25.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Catholic Boy, the winner of the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge here on June 2, returned to the work tab Friday, breezing a half-mile in 50.76 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course at Saratoga in preparation for the Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby on July 7 at Belmont Park.

Trainer Jonathan Thomas said the fact that he worked Catholic Boy on Friday is an indication of how well the horse came out of the Pennine Ridge.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Todd Fincher, a leading trainer in New Mexico, and James DiVito and Ian Wilkes, who are based in Kentucky, will have stables at Del Mar for the first time this summer, Del Mar track officials said earlier this week.

Fincher said Thursday that he plans to send approximately 10 horses to Del Mar, the first time he will race in California.

“I’ve always trained mostly New Mexico-breds, but we’ve started to branch out in the open market,” Fincher said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – More than six months after losing half of his stable in the devastating wildfire that struck San Luis Rey Downs, trainer Scott Hansen won for the first time since September in Thursday’s fifth race at Santa Anita.

Frankie Machine ($37.60) won a $30,000 claiming race for maidens at a mile. For Hansen, Frankie Machine was his seventh starter of the year. The stable has slowly been rebuilt in recent months after losing 15 of its 30 horses in the fire last December.

“It’s been a struggle,” Hansen said after leaving the winner’s circle.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Sharp Samurai was a length from ending 2017 with five consecutive stakes wins on turf.

The winning streak stretched from June to late October and included two Grade 2 races – the Del Mar Derby and Twilight Derby – before ending with a fourth-place finish behind Mo Town in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby last November.

By any measure, the campaign was a success, leading to high hopes for 2018.

Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., plans to transfer a total of $1.5 million in purse money to three other tracks on the Kentucky circuit, the tracks and the state’s horsemen’s group announced on Thursday.

Ellis Park, Keeneland, and Churchill Downs will each receive $500,000 from Kentucky Downs, according to the announcement. The transfer will need the approval of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, but the organization’s executive director, Marty Maline, was part of the team that negotiated the transfers, and approval is considered to be highly likely.