HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has never been a big fan of the Summit of Speed and typically has declined to ship horses from New York to South Florida to compete in the event amid the summer heat.

Laurel Park rider Steve Hamilton is sidelined with lower back pain, according to his agent, Ben Feliciano Sr. Hamilton, who has not ridden since June 10, was scheduled to see a specialist Wednesday.

Hamilton has been having back pain since he went down in a spill at the Laurel Park winter meet, according to Feliciano. The Laurel meet concluded May 6.

“He’s been in a lot of pain,” Feliciano said. “We talked it over and decided to find out exactly what’s going on rather than him just trying to ride through it.”

Monmouth Park had a very successful Father’s Day from a business standpoint, with attendance, ontrack betting, and all-sources handle up markedly from last year.

Father’s Day is the second most heavily attended program of the Monmouth season after the Haskell Invitational card. Last year, announced attendance was 18,527 and $830,730 was wagered ontrack on Monmouth’s races. All-sources handle on Monmouth’s card was more than $4.1 million.

Popular East Coast racing announcer Larry Lederman has had a rough year physically and personally, but the proton therapy he recently completed proved successful and, besides some “collateral damage,” he is doing remarkably well healthwise.

Lederman was diagnosed with a brain tumor in April 2011. The tumor proved manageable until last fall when an MRI revealed it had grown in size. In January, at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, surgeons were able to remove 70 percent of the tumor.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Bret Calhoun has opted to pass on the $75,000 Roxelana here Saturday with Finley’sluckycharm, who surely would have been a heavy favorite in the six-furlong race. Instead, Finley’sluckycharm, who has been working steadily here since June 3, will make her next start July 25 in the Honorable Miss at Saratoga, said Calhoun.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Only a few lengths separate the best turf milers from the also-rans. World Approval earned a divisional Eclipse Award last fall after winning the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but now the gray 6-year-old gelding is in no man’s land following two subpar starts.

ELMONY, N.Y. – It’s been quite the Belmont spring-summer meet for trainer Jason Servis, who has won with 12 of his 24 starters including four stakes wins.

He hopes the good times continue the remaining four weeks, especially on July 7 when he plans to run Firenze Fire in the Grade 3, $300,000 Dwyer Stakes going a mile.

The last time Firenze Fire raced a mile at Belmont, he won the Grade 1 Champagne last fall.

Firenze Fire finished 11th in the Kentucky Derby. Has worked twice since, including a five-furlong move in 1:01.40 on June 11 under Irad Ortiz Jr.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Had things gone differently last month at Churchill Downs, Rushing Fall might be in England this week preparing for a start in Friday’s Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Instead, following her neck loss to Toinette in the Grade 3 Edgewood, Rushing Fall is home in New York getting ready for a summer campaign. Where that campaign resumes is not yet decided, but on Sunday Rushing Fall gave trainer Chad Brown confidence she is heading in the right direction with a sharp five-furlong workout over the Belmont turf course.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Stanley Gold will be the first to tell you racing is a game of cycles. And right now, nobody at Gulfstream Park is in a better cycle than Gold, his principal client Arindel Farm, and their go-to rider Jeffrey Sanchez.

The trio combined to win four races over the past weekend, including Sunday’s main event with Asterisk, who drew off to an easy victory over the 7-5 favorite Ruler of the Nile in the entry-level optional-claiming event.

Supermason, a six-time stakes winner, returns to the overnight ranks for Thursday night’s third race at Lone Star Park. He leads an optional $40,000 claiming sprint at six furlongs that also drew three-time stakes winner Rumpole and recent allowance winner Mr. N.

Supermason last raced April 19, when he won Lone Star’s opening night stakes, the Bluebonnet, for the third year in a row. The Bret Calhoun trainee is 7 for 12 over the local main track, and he also has a turf win at Lone Star.