ARCADIA, Calif. – McKinzie, a two-time graded stakes winner, is nearing a return to racetrack training after being sidelined with a hock injury in late March.

Trainer Bob Baffert said on Thursday that McKinzie is tack-walking this week at his Santa Anita stable.

“He’ll be back,” Baffert said. “I wanted to make sure he was okay.”

Baffert said McKinzie had issues with a hock detected via a nuclear scan test conducted in late March. Nuclear scans are more precise than routine X-rays and can detect minor deficiencies.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Tyler Baze, who has not ridden since May 19 because of body soreness sustained in a one-horse spill, has postponed his return to riding to June 7 at the earliest, said Craig O’Bryan, Baze’s agent..

Baze was named to ride on Memorial Day weekend and then considered returning this weekend before eventually deciding on a comeback next Thursday. Baze has undergone physical therapy and worked with chiropractors to facilitate a return.

The back end of the May 26 card at Canterbury Park had to be canceled after storms in the area produced too much lightning to safely race. Among the races lost was the $50,000 Honor the Hero, a turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up that has been rescheduled for this Saturday, June 2.

Apprehender has been around the block but still knows his way to the finish line.

The 9-year-old gelding made his 44th career start Saturday in the $65,000 Ed Skinner Memorial Stakes at Prairie Meadows, and after second-place finishes in 2016 and 2017 won the race.

“He’s a pretty cool horse,” said trainer Gene Jacquot. “He’s all about business when he’s on the racetrack and he’s a nice horse in the barn. He can go on and have a nice career after racing. He’s a big, sensible horse. But he came back out of this race bouncing, so I’d say he’s not quite ready to retire.”

Marlon St. Julien, the veteran jockey who was injured in a one-horse accident just after the start of a race May 19 at Prairie Meadows, remains in the intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa, as he continues a slow recovery from a spinal cord injury.

St. Julien, who had surgery the day after the accident, has movement in his legs and shoulders but has struggled to regain motion in his lower arms, according to Robyn Dean, the wife of St. Julien’s agent, Bobby Dean.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Trainer Larry Rivelli has the Arlington barn best stocked with 2-year-olds these days, and it was no surprise that Rivelli swept the first 2-year-old races of the meet over the Memorial Day weekend.

On Saturday, the Iqbaal gelding Echoes of Laughter won by 5 1/2 lengths at first asking, though he only earned a 51 Beyer Speed Figure. Rivelli on Tuesday said Echoes of Laughter could make his next start in the Prairie Gold Juvenile on July 20 at Prairie Meadows.

Iowa is the next frontier for Shotgun Kowboy.

Shotgun Kowboy, who won the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap in his third attempt last Sunday, will take a second crack at Iowa’s premier race for older horses, the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker. The Cornhusker is July 6 at Prairie Meadows.

“That gives me better than 30 days between races,” said C.R. Trout, who bred, owns and trains Shotgun Kowboy. “He’s getting a little age on him, and he needs that time.”

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Ezmosh, a comfortable winner of the Grade 3, $100,000 Arlington Classic last Saturday, is back at trainer Brad Cox’s main base at Churchill Downs, but Cox said the colt will ship back to Arlington for his next start, the American Derby on July 7.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Group 1-winning Argentine mare Dona Bruja required some time following a tough fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes on April 14 at Keeneland, but when trainer Ignacio Correas returned to his main base at Keeneland after a few days looking in on his Arlington string, he was pleasantly surprised to see Dona Bruja through relatively fresh eyes.

“When you get to see the horses every day, sometimes you take a break of two or three days and you see the changes more,” Correas said Tuesday. “I was very pleased with what I saw from her.”

Monte Man, who won his fifth consecutive race Saturday night in the $75,000 Louisiana Legends Sprint at Evangeline Downs, is now a candidate for the $50,000 Louisiana Cup Sprint on Aug. 4 at Louisiana Downs, trainer Ron Faucheux said.

The Louisiana Cup, like the Legends Sprint, is restricted to horses bred in Louisiana.

“I think we’ll probably go right into the race at Louisiana Downs on Aug. 4,” Faucheux said. “We’ll probably go in that, and then we’ll have a little gap after that. We talked about maybe going to another track outside the state for one race.”