I’m a Chatterbox, one of the best dirt mares in training, is galloping at Fair Grounds toward a start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 29 at Sam Houston Race Park, according to trainer Larry Jones.

“I expect her to show up on the work tab this weekend,” Jones said Thursday.

Overshadowed, as usual, by virtually all other categories, the race for outstanding apprentice is getting minimal buzz as voting gets under way for the 2016 Eclipse Awards.

Luis Ocasio, based in Pennsylvania, has to be considered the favorite as the national leader in wins and earnings, but Euclyn Prentice Jr., who has ridden mostly in Kentucky and Ohio, might attract a few votes.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Racing on this circuit will take a 10-day hiatus at the conclusion of Sunday’s card. But getaway day will not be a quick one.

Following the cancellation of Thursday’s card due to high winds and cold, there will be an 11-race program on Sunday commencing at 11:20 a.m. Eastern. The card will include the $100,000 Gravesend and the $150,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Stakes for juvenile fillies.

Everything went jockey Ashley Broussard's way Wednesday night at Delta Downs in Vinton, La. Broussard won six consecutive races, including one victory by disqualification.

Broussard's streak ran from the fourth through ninth races on the 10-race card. Broussard’s win in the fourth came aboard Randinsky ($6.60). She proceeded to take the fifth with Big Risque ($6), the sixth with Drummer Boy ($4.80), the seventh with Disturbingbehavior ($4.60), the eighth with Texas Jambalaya ($11.20), and the ninth with Private Songster ($5.40). 

A year ago at Fair Grounds, trainer Richie Scherer liked what he was seeing during morning training as the 2015-16 race meet got started.

“Last year, I came in here and had horses I thought were doing really well, and I told people I was going to win some races, and I didn’t at all,” Scherer said wryly. “This year, they all were training that way again, but I kept my mouth shut.”

So-called Santa Super Saturday was hatched at Fair Grounds years ago with an unfortunate name as part of the general Churchill Downs Inc. trend toward clustering stakes races on single cards, and it has never produced much memorable racing. But out of the blue, Santa Super Saturday 2016 has come up a truly excellent card.

There is an abundance of quantity, with 144 horses entered in 12 races Saturday, and the four stakes for older horses all drew full fields of unusually high quality for mere $75,000 races.

Dallas Stewart, horse trainer, is a designation with which even casual racing fans would be familiar. Dallas Stewart, horse breeder and horse owner – not so much.

But Stewart is getting the full-spectrum experience this fall and winter with the talented 2-year-old Saint’s Fan, a colt he bred, owns, and trains and who can really run.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After watching the turf-stakes winner Flatlined turn in a couple of eye-catching works on the main track here within a 10-day span, including a half-mile in 46.27 seconds over a somewhat dull strip on Tuesday, trainer Charles Dickey had every right to consider running him on dirt in Saturday’s Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday here.

But in the end, discretion became the better part of valor, and Dickey opted instead to keep Flatlined on turf for Saturday’s $100,000 El Prado.

Jockey Kerwin Clark hit a career high in 2015 when he won the Kentucky Oaks with Lovely Maria. Another milestone was looming for the 57-year-old on Wednesday night, as the race week opened at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.

Clark entered the card one win from 3,000 career Thoroughbred victories in North America, according to Equibase. He had a chance at hitting the mark in the seventh race and, if not, could get there later in the week. He had two mounts Thursday night and will be aboard three runners on Friday.

This has not been the easiest year for the legendary horseman Jonathan Sheppard, who through Tuesday had won 38 races, his lowest total since the mid-1970s. But the Hall of Fame trainer is ending 2016 on a nice streak, and the seeds have been planted for a better campaign in 2017.