OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The 32-1 upset victory by Heaven’s Runway in Thursday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Fall Highweight Handicap at Aqueduct was an emotional one for co-owner Michael Imperio and his wife, Elizabeth Loftus.

The win came five years to the day after their homebred General Maximus suffered a fatal breakdown in the same race. Loftus, who goes by the nickname Libby, did not want to run a horse in that race again. According to Imperio, Loftus didn’t know Heaven’s Runway was running Thursday until she heard Imperio scream as he watched the race on television.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Chad Brown, who leads the nation’s trainers in purse earnings heading into the final month of the year, will aim at the closing-weekend Grade 1 races at Del Mar next week, sending out three 3-year-olds for the Hollywood Derby on Saturday and three older females for the Matriarch on Sunday.

Both the Hollywood Derby, at 1 1/8 miles, and the Matriarch, at one mile, are $300,000 races; they are two of the final three Grade 1 races on turf this year. The only other Grade 1 grass race is the American Oaks on Dec. 31 at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Stakes winners Lost Bus and My Fiona have been retired and will be bred to Kentucky-based stallions in 2017, trainer Gary Sherlock said Friday.

Lost Bus and My Fiona were recently shipped to owner Terry Lovingier’s farm in California, where they will remain until sent to Kentucky. Sherlock said stallion plans have not been finalized, but American Pharoah and Will Take Charge are under consideration.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Champagne Room, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 5, is near a return to serious training and could have her 2017 debut in the $200,000 Las Virgenes Stakes on Feb. 5.

Trainer Peter Eurton said Friday that Champagne Room is in light training, which will intensify in the coming days.

“She’ll start galloping in a week,” he said. “She’ll have her first breeze in the middle of December.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A racing rarity occurred here Wednesday when two races resulted in dead heats for win.

Express Yourself and Lady Oak finished on even terms in the second race, just as the photo-finish camera couldn’t separate Crown Royal Queen and Cheatin Heart in the 10th race.

Comprehensive records are not kept so as to determine when, if ever, a similar event has occurred here.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ian Wilkes gave himself quite the send-off before he and his wife, Tracey, return to their native Australia for a few weeks. Wilkes saddled three winners on the Thanksgiving Day card at Churchill Downs, capped by Thatcher Street posting a hard-fought victory in the Grade 3 River City Handicap.

“It’ll put us in a good mood for the long plane ride Tuesday,” said Wilkes, who also won Thursday allowances with War Stroll and Bird Song. “We haven’t been home in six or seven years. We’re going to see family and enjoy some downtime.”

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Overnight purses at the 2016-17 Tampa Bay Downs meet are projected to be unchanged from the prior meet at about $142,000 a day. Most of the jockeys who ride here, however, can expect a pay raise when the 90-day meet begins Saturday with an 11-race card.

Trainer Jon Arnett, a winner of more than 1,850 races, said he plans to send a small division of horses to the Oaklawn Park meet that opens in January. It will be the first time he has had a string at the Hot Springs, Ark., track since 1983.

Arnett said he also will have horses at Sunland Park following the close of the meet at Zia Park.

Arnett will send a mix of horses to Oaklawn, including Tap The Admiral, who has won his last three starts at three different tracks and set a track record in October at Zia.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Lewis Bay, last year’s Grade 2 Demoiselle winner, heads a field of seven entered in the Grade 3, $250,000 Comely Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday.

Lewis Bay, who this year finished third in the Kentucky Oaks, is coming off her best performance, a 5 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm at Belmont on Oct. 29.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Rudy Rodriguez will send out the trio of Jamyson ‘n Ginger, Libby’s Tail, and Bonita Bianca in a field of nine 2-year-old fillies entered for Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Demoiselle.

Jamyson ‘n Ginger won a maiden race at Belmont by 15 1/4 lengths in the mud, earning a 103 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest by a juvenile filly this year. She finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies after getting away slowly and racing last into the first turn. Jamyson ‘n Ginger breaks from post 4 in the Demoiselle.