Buoyed by beautiful weather, Penn National put on a good show last Saturday on Penn Mile Day. The races were interesting, and a good-sized crowd turned out.

The 11-race card handled $3.2 million, with more than $1 million bet on the $500,000 Penn Mile, the first Grade 2 race in the track’s history.

While things went smoothly on the business front, there was some rough riding on the card. With seven stakes slotted and riders coming in from New York and up from Maryland, there were four separate jockey objections in the first seven races, including three in races 6 and 7.

After a slow start to the meet, Jorge Navarro has rocketed to his normal position atop the Monmouth Park trainer standings. Over the past two weeks, Navarro has gone 10 for 19 at Monmouth, and he now leads the standings by four wins over Jason Servis and Patrick McBurney, who each have won six races.

Navarro has won the last four training titles at Monmouth.

From Saturday through Tuesday, Navarro went 8 for 15. He won four races at Monmouth, three at Parx, and one at Delaware Park.

Imperial Hint, who came down with pneumonia after shipping to Dubai in March for the $2 million Golden Shaheen on World Cup Day, is back on the Parx Racing work tab for trainer Luis Carvajal Jr.

Imperial Hint worked a slow three furlongs in 37.58 seconds on May 27 and then picked up the pace last Saturday, going a half-mile in 48.32.

“He’s doing fantastic now,” Carvajal said. “I have three works left for him, and I think he will be ready to run.”

Following a 12-day break after the Preakness meet at Pimlico, Maryland racing will resume Friday at Laurel Park with a summer stand that will run through Aug. 20.

The 33-day meet has a $1.67 million stakes schedule comprised of 21 races, 16 of which are evenly split between events for Maryland-bred or Maryland-sired runners and Virginia-bred or Virginia-sired horses. The richest race of the season is the $100,000 Stormy Blues, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies.

ELMONT, N.Y. – There are a number of guaranteed wagering pools at Belmont Park this Friday and Saturday and a pair of two-day daily doubles linking major stakes.

The first daily double is on the Grade 2 New York Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile turf race for fillies and mares that is carded as race 9 on Friday, and the Grade 1 Met Mile, carded as race 9 on Saturday.

The second daily double ties together the Grade 3 Belmont Gold Cup, a two-mile turf race slotted as race 10 on Friday, and the Belmont Stakes, which is race 11 on Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Tim Ritvo might not have all the answers, but he does have plenty of ideas. The objective – a new lease on life for Santa Anita, even if that requires taking a step backward before moving ahead.

The chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, Ritvo relocated from Florida last month, charged with what he termed “improving business” at Santa Anita. It is a catch-all for his mission, which will include major changes at the Great Race Place.

ELMONT, N.Y. – “The bad boy is here!” the Twitter account of the Belmont Stakes captioned a photo of Classic Empire descending a horse van Tuesday that had just arrived at Belmont Park.

Reputations die hard, and Classic Empire’s exploits will cling to him indefinitely, but the fact of the matter is the bad boy appears to have transformed into a polite, dutiful youngster over the last couple months.

While trainer Mark Casse is at Belmont Park this week supervising Classic Empire’s final preparations for the Belmont Stakes, his division at Woodbine is working with another 3-year-old of promise.

Souper Tapit showed high-level talent from the first start of his career, which came at Fair Grounds this past winter, and that ability showed through in the Marine Stakes on May 28 at Woodbine, which Souper Tapit won by two lengths. Now, Souper Tapit is going to the Ohio Derby at Thistledown on June 24, Casse said.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Naturally, Rodrigo Ubillo wasn’t thrilled when it was announced the two-time champion Songbird was going to kick off her 4-year-old campaign in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It was only three furlongs Tuesday morning at Santa Anita, but the workout by Arrogate was significant because it marked a first step toward a summer comeback at Del Mar.

Arrogate and exercise rider Dana Barnes cruised an easy three furlongs at 8 a.m., the first workout by the world’s top-ranked horse since he returned from Dubai in early April.

“He just went 36, out in 49, just did it easy,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “She [Dana Barnes] did a great job; he was pretty fired up at the barn. She had her hands full.”