CYPRESS, Calif. - Swipe, second to Nyquist in four consecutive stakes, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Oct. 31, underwent surgery to have a bone chip removed from an ankle last month, trainer Keith Desormeaux said.

Desormeaux said over the weekend he is hopeful that Swipe can return to training in early 2016 and run in prep races for the Triple Crown in March and April.

“We think we still have a chance,” Desormeaux said.

Desormeaux said Swipe will spend a month at a Southern California layup facility, where he will be in light training.

CYPRESS, Calif. - This could be an action-packed winter in stakes for 3-year-olds for trainer Doug O’Neill.

His stable is led by Nyquist, the unbeaten winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Oct. 31. Lurking behind him in the O’Neill stable are Frank Conversation and Sorryaboutnothing, who are scheduled to start in the $350,000 Los Alamitos Futurity next Saturday.

Neither has done anything to merit comparison to Nyquist, but there is hope in the ever-optimistic O’Neill stable that one can develop into a consistent graded stakes runner in coming months.

The New York stewards have disqualified Box Office from his first-place finish in the fourth race Dec. 4 at Aqueduct and fined that horse’s owner-trainer Diane Balsamo, as well as trainer David Jacobson, for failure to disclose that Jacobson, who also ran a horse in that race, had a hidden financial interest in Box Office.

Smokey Image, the undefeated winner of four sprint stakes in California, has been transferred from trainer Greg James at Golden Gate Fields to Carla Gaines at Santa Anita by owners and breeders Robert and Betty Irvin.

On Friday, Gaines said Smokey Image has been in her barn for a little less than a month and is in light training. She said Smokey Image’s exercise schedule will intensify in coming weeks, with the goal of a start in the $250,000 California Cup Derby for California-breds at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 30.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Jockey Felipe Valdez broke his collarbone after being unseated from Giant’s Lexis in Friday’s seventh race at Los Alamitos, track officials said Saturday.

Valdez, 37, was taken to nearby Long Beach Memorial Hospital after the spill and remained there overnight. He was scheduled to meet with a doctor Saturday, according to officials.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Carlos Huerta, the second-leading Quarter Horse jockey at Los Alamitos, suffered three broken vertebrae in a spill after the eighth race Friday evening and will miss mounts in two lucrative races this weekend.

Huerta was unseated after the filly Blabber fell after the Paul Ford Memorial Handicap. Blabber was not injured. Huerta was transported to Long Beach Memorial hospital.

CYPRESS, Calif. – The man entrusted with guiding California Chrome through his daily exercise knows his way around Los Alamitos.

Dihigi Gladney, 40, made a career of riding lower-level Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos from 1995 until his retirement in 2012. He rode winners at Del Mar, Hollywood Park, and Santa Anita, but most of his 318 career victories were at Los Al.

Cliff Berry has been a longtime kingpin in the Southwest riding ranks, winning more than 20 titles among tracks in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Berry will call it a career on Sunday after he rides Better Than Magic in the $250,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Edgard Zayas and Tyler Gaffalione, who finished first and third in the jockey standings at the recently concluded Gulfstream Park West meet, returned to action Friday, less than 48 hours after being injured in separate incidents Wednesday.

Zayas was sent to the hospital complaining of a headache after being unseated from his mount, Summer Chant, prior to the fourth race. Gaffalione fell heavily after his mount, Sweet Summer Sweat, stumbled badly leaving the gate in the following event.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Speechify and Singanothersong won the last two editions of the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector, and they were among 18 horses nominated to the six-furlong dash here Saturday on a card that also includes the $75,000 Tropical Park Derby and $75,000 Tropical Park Oaks.