It was strange not to see Jeff Powell on the starter’s stand when the spring-summer session opened Wednesday at Gulfstream Park. Powell, the starter both locally and at Gulfstream Park West since 2007, retired at the end of the championship meeting Sunday to return to his home in Montana. He’s been replaced by Dave Reinshuttle, a longtime member of Powell’s south Florida gate crew.

Powell was honored by a huge throng of his peers in the winner’s circle Sunday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Majestic Quality was essentially packed and ready for a journey to Louisiana last week when word emerged that Unique Bella would miss Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks.

Quickly, Majestic Quality’s plans changed. A start in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks last weekend was canceled in favor of the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles. Trainer Keith Desormeaux said the absence of Unique Bella because of sore shins “absolutely” led to the decision to keep Majestic Quality in California.

Midnight Storm could be headed to Arkansas.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said Tuesday that Midnight Storm, the runner-up in the Santa Anita Handicap, is being considered for the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 15. Midnight Storm, a Grade 1 winner and an earner of $1.6 million, is based at Santa Anita.

“We’re going to breeze him here this weekend, and then we’ll make a decision,” D’Amato said. “If we do decide to go, there’s a plane leaving Tuesday.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Time to Travel, a very impressive maiden winner on last Saturday’s Florida Derby card, has been transferred to trainer Michael Matz’s barn and could make his next start in the Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland on April 15.

Time to Travel, a Canadian-bred son of Hard Spun, led throughout under Hall of Fame rider Edgar Prado to register a 4 3/4-length victory against a strong field of maiden special weight rivals at Gulfstream Park, with his final time of 1:21.84 for seven furlongs over a very fast main track translating to an 88 Beyer Speed Figure.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Not unlike a Thoroughbred breaking from the gate, Keeneland will get another meet off to a flying start with a three-day weekend that will set the tone for a highly eventful spring at this picturesque track.

Seven graded stakes led by the Blue Grass Stakes will be run Friday through Sunday, with a terrific renewal of the Transylvania Stakes anchoring a 10-race Friday opener. Oscar Performance, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in his most recent start, will be favored in a field of nine 3-year-olds in the Grade 3, $150,000 Transylvania.

Churchill Downs officials on Tuesday unveiled the latest renovations to the company’s flagship track in Louisville, Ky. A $16 million project on the second-floor clubhouse area includes major changes to the former Gold Room and Silks Room, with upgraded spaces taking on new names and a modernized look. About 13,000 customers will pass through the area during major events, according to a track release.

Churchill has spent roughly $125 million in capital improvements at the track in the last seven years and nearly $250 million since massive reconstruction was undertaken in 2003.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Cash Control, a two-time Grade 3 stakes winner and an earner of nearly $550,000, has been retired and will be bred soon to Quality Road, said owner and breeder Richard Klein. Cash Control, 6, finished second last Saturday in the New Orleans Ladies at Fair Grounds.

Klein’s father, banker and philanthropist Bertram Klein, died last month at age 86. Richard Klein said he and his wife and children will continue to be active in racing under the new stable name of Klein Racing.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – If you had asked Dale Romans six months ago which horse he’d be running in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland the following spring, he would have had a quick answer: Not This Time.

Funny how that works.

Romans, who has won two of the last five runnings of the Blue Grass with Dullahan (2012) and Brody’s Cause (2016), instead will saddle J Boys Echo for the Blue Grass on Saturday. Not This Time had his career cut short by injury after finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November.

King Leatherbury won with an 11-year-old last Saturday at Laurel Park. He hopes to win with another one in the not-too-distant future.

Leatherbury’s victory last weekend came in a $7,500 claiming race with Classic Wildcat, a horse he claimed for $5,000 in May 2013 and has since won with 11 times. Leatherbury’s other 11-year-old is Ben’s Cat, a 32-time winner and an earner of $2.6 million.

A field of seven 3-year-olds has been entered for the Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes, a critical Kentucky Derby prep race to be run Saturday as the annual spring showcase at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

McCraken, who closed as a lukewarm favorite in Pool 4 of the Derby Future Wager conducted last weekend by Churchill Downs, was assigned post 2 as the 7-5 morning-line favorite for the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass. Among the other top contenders are Tapwrit (post 4, 5-2), Practical Joke (post 7, 7-2), and J Boys Echo (post 3, 4-1).