CYPRESS, Calif. – Vision, a $500,000 auction purchase earlier this year, won his debut in a maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Los Alamitos on Thursday, a distance well short of what should be the colt’s specialty.

Ridden by Mike Smith, Vision closed from fourth in the long stretch to win by 1 1/4 lengths as the 8-5 favorite. Vision quickened noticeably after Smith moved the colt toward the inside in the final furlong.

“He’s really big, but he’s quick,” Smith said. “When I let him drop down, he gave me another gear.”

Paradise Woods, third in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 3, is progressing toward the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 in excellent form, trainer Richard Mandella said on Friday.

Mandella said he was encouraged by the way Paradise Woods worked a half-mile in 49 seconds at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

“She’s just good,” he said. “It’s the same thing we’ve seen all year. She came out of the race in good shape and there’s no reason not to try it.”

Wednesday’s workout was the first for Paradise Woods since the BC Distaff.

Santa Anita has made several changes to the stakes schedule for the winter-spring meeting, revamping the calendar for older males on dirt, cutting the purse of the Santa Anita Handicap, adding a six-figure race for 3-year-olds on turf, and putting a graded stakes on turf on hiatus.

The stakes schedule was announced on Thursday. The meeting runs from Dec. 26 to April 8 and will be followed by a spring-summer meeting through June 26. The spring-summer stakes schedule will be announced in early 20 18.

Mike Maker was represented by the 2,000th winner of his training career when Tomahawk Kitten rallied to win the first race Thursday night at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.

Ridden by Alex Canchari, Tomahawk Kitten circled rivals on the far turn before proceeding to an easy score in the $7,500 maiden-claiming race going a mile on Polytrack. Fittingly, the winner is a 2-year-old colt bred and owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, with whom Maker has enjoyed considerable success through the years. He paid $5 as favorite in a field of eight.

Hunt and Pee Wee Reese finished first and third for trainer Phil D’Amato in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar last Sunday. It could be months before they meet again.

D’Amato said Hunt will be given a month’s rest before resuming training, while Pee Wee Reese will be active in the early months of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, which begins Dec. 26.

CYPRESS, Calif. – The 5-year-old Shenandoah Queen will be part of a rebuilding winter for trainer John Sadler and his principal clients, Kosta and Pete Hronis.

In early November, their Stellar Wind, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015, had her final start in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar, finishing eighth. She was sold days later at Keeneland’s November sale for $6 million.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It begins in the fall and ends in the spring, but the tradition-rich Gulfstream Park Championship meeting is still considered the winter meet by longtime horseplayers, who eagerly anticipate another star-studded season of racing in south Florida, beginning Saturday and continuing through April 1.

Total handle for the 21-day Churchill Downs fall meet that concluded on Sunday was down 1 percent compared with handle during the 21-day meet last year, according to amended figures released on Wednesday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Total handle was $96.6 million this year, compared with $97.6 million last year, according to the figures, which were amended on Wednesday after questions were raised about an initial release from the KHRC on Monday.

Trainer Peter Miller, who won two Breeders’ Cup races earlier this month at Del Mar, said Wednesday he plans to have a division of horses at the Oaklawn Park meet that opens in January. It will mark the first time he has raced in Arkansas.

Miller won the Breeders' Cup Sprint with Roy H and the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint with Stormy Liberal. His main base of operation will continue to be Southern California. 

Expect Ebben to make his next start Jan. 13 in the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds following his eye-catching win Nov. 25 at Churchill in a first-level allowance race.

Following less-than-ideal journeys in the Iroquois and the Street Sense at Churchill, Ebben broke through with a 4 1/2-length score in a one-turn mile, getting a career-best 75 Beyer Figure.

“I was glad he got the chance to run the other day after a couple tougher trips,” said trainer Steve Margolis.