HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park hit record numbers at the claim box last season, when 492 horses were claimed for $6.9 million in transactions between stables during the 56-date meet that ran from January to mid-April.

The action has been just as fierce this season. Just nine days into the new meet, there have been 59 claims, a number that is on par with the corresponding period a year ago, according to Terri Hoffrogge, the horsemen’s bookkeeper at Oaklawn. In all, there had been $776,000 in transactions between stables through Thursday.

Stallwalkin’ Dude will leave New York on Tuesday for Southern California to run in the Grade 2, $200,000 Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita next Saturday.

Stallwalkin’ Dude was beaten a neck in the Grade 3 Toboggan here on Jan. 16. Prior to that, he won the Gravesend Stakes.

“He’s better now than he’s ever been, believe it or not,” trainer David Jacobson said.

Jacobson said he still has an eye on the Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan on March 25 but said, “It’s a long time from now. One race at a time.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher is expected to send out a trio of runners against Jerome Stakes winner El Areeb in next Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.

Pletcher’s horses Bonus Points and Win With Pride, who finished second and fourth in the Jerome, will try El Areeb again. They will be joined by Fillet of Sole, a colt coming off a maiden victory at Parx in November.

Slowly but steadily, Fair Grounds is emerging from the equine viral outbreak that began late last year and briefly even threatened to shut down the 2016-17 race meet. One by one, quarantined barns are coming back online, and off-site shippers began racing at Fair Grounds again this week.

But for trainer Mike Stidham, the slow still feels much stronger than the steady.

In a business sense, Stidham has been affected by the equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) event at Fair Grounds more acutely than any trainer.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Champagne Room, the 2016 champion 2-year-old filly, is set to have her 3-year-old debut in the $200,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 5.

Champagne Room has not raced since her upset win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies here Nov. 5. She was named champion in a ceremony at Gulfstream Park in Florida on Jan. 21.

The Grade 2 Las Virgenes is run at a mile and will be a test for Champagne Room. The field is expected to include Unique Bella, the easy winner of the Grade 2 Santa Ynez Stakes at seven furlongs Jan. 8.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Drayden Van Dyke faces a lengthy period of recovery after severely breaking his arm in a two-horse spill at Santa Anita on Thursday.

Van Dyke underwent surgery shortly after arriving at Huntington Hospital in nearby Pasadena, according to his agent, Brad Pegram. Van Dyke remained hospitalized Friday morning. It was unclear how long Van Dyke would be in the hospital or how long he will be away from racing, Pegram said.

Van Dyke, 22, was cleared of any injuries to his head, neck and spine, according to Pegram.

Tepin, the two-time Eclipse Award champion for trainer Mark Casse and owner Robert Masterson, is scheduled to have another breeze Monday at Palm Meadows with Julien Leparoux aboard.

Tepin is being pointed to the Grade 3 Endeavour Stakes on the Feb. 11 Sam F. Davis card at Tampa Bay Downs. If all goes well, Tepin then could be sent overseas for the Dubai World Cup Carnival on March 25 at Meydan.

With divisional champion Classic Empire heading the prospective lineup, a field of seven or eight is forming for the first major 3-year-old event of the Gulfstream championship meet, the Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull Stakes next Saturday.

Classic Empire was scheduled to have his final prerace breeze this weekend at his Palm Meadows base, according to trainer Mark Casse.

“So far, everything’s going to plan,” Casse said Friday. “We’re in good shape.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sunday morning will start a new chapter for Art Sherman, who will head back to California to tend to his barn at Los Alamitos while the best horse he’s ever trained, California Chrome, heads to Kentucky to begin stud duty at Taylor Made.

Sherman has such an early flight that he wasn’t planning on going to the barn here at Gulfstream Park on Sunday before California Chrome leaves.

Shortly after 5:40 p.m. on Saturday, as the sun sets on Gulfstream Park in Florida, a horse will take home the largest purse ever offered in Thoroughbred racing, the $7 million winner’s share of the inaugural $12 million Pegasus World Cup.

Beyond the winner, however, the connections behind the vast majority of the also-rans will bear losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.