Travis Stone realizes what a unique place he is in. At age 30, he already has one of the best jobs in racing as the new race-caller at Churchill Downs.

“It all started sinking in when I got here this week,” said Stone. “It’s very exciting, that’s for sure.”

Stone, who started his announcing career in 2006 at Louisiana Downs, becomes the eighth caller in track history and replaces Larry Collmus, who moved on to the New York Racing Association after working one year here. Mark Johnson preceded Collmus.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dale Romans is in his element at Churchill Downs, the track where he grew up shirt-tailing his dad, the late trainer Jerry Romans. As well traveled as he is, Romans always seems to do his best right here at home.

When Palace Malice makes his highly anticipated seasonal debut in the Grade 3, $150,000 Westchester Handicap at Belmont Park on May 2, he won’t have to worry about facing The Big Beast.

Trainer Tony Dutrow said Thursday that The Big Beast will get a freshening and point to a summer campaign, most likely at Saratoga.

The winner of last year’s Grade 1 King’s Bishop, The Big Beast finished fourth in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct on April 4, and it took a while for him to recover from the race.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The connections of Wonder Gal were hoping to run her in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks but would have settled for running her in the Grade 3 Eight Belles on the same May 1 card at Churchill Downs.

Unfortunately, she won’t be running in either race.

Wonder Gal was found with mucus in her trachea following training Wednesday and did not van to Louisville as expected Thursday with her three-time Grade 1-winning stablemate Sweet Reason.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The 2015 meet at Hastings begins Saturday with seven races and significant changes to the stakes schedule that was released earlier this year.

The Grade 3 British Columbia Derby, originally worth $200,000, now is the richest race in western Canada and in the Pacific Northwest with a $250,000 purse.

The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds on Sept. 21 will be supported by the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks, the $50,000 S.W. Randall Plate for 3-year-olds and up, and the $50,000 Delta Colleen for fillies and mares.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gouyen took the lead in the stretch of an optional claimer on Santa Anita's hillside turf course March 26 and thought she had finished her job.

“As soon as she got in front, she got to waiting,” trainer Mark Glatt said Wednesday.

Changes have been made to avoid a repeat in Friday’s fifth race, an optional claimer on the hillside turf course for California-bred fillies and mares. Gouyen will be fitted with blinkers for the first time.

“We hope that will get her to run through the lane a little stronger,” Glatt said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Distance races have defined the career of Quick Casablanca, first in South America, where the horse was bred, and in the United States in the last two years.

Last year, during the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting, Quick Casablanca won the Grade 3 Last Tycoon Stakes, finished third in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes, and was second in the Grade 2 San Juan Capistrano Stakes, all races at 1 1/8 miles or farther on turf.

The same races are goals for Quick Casablanca this year, and the calendar better suits the 7-year-old.

Jose Corrales won his biggest race as a trainer last week when Bodhisattva pulled away in the stretch of the $100,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico.

The Tesio is the final stakes for 3-year-olds in Maryland prior to the Preakness, but Corrales, who also owns Bodhisattva, is a realist, and he will only run there if he thinks the horse belongs.

“I don’t want to be a dreamer,” Corrales said Wednesday. “I want to run my horses where I think I can be in the first three. To run just to run means nothing to me. I want to run and make money.”

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Sr. Quisqueyano can kick-start a memorable week of racing for owner Ron Paolucci in Friday night’s Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park. A Dallas resident, Paolucci will be at Churchill Downs next weekend to watch his War Story run in the Kentucky Derby.

One King’s Man could get an ideal setup Friday night in the Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park near Dallas. The potential for a quick pace in the co-richest race of the meet is one of the reasons the late-running stakes winner was entered, trainer Joe Sharp said Tuesday.

“We looked at how the race might set up,” Sharp said of the nominations to the Texas Mile. “It looked like there would be plenty of speed, which should set up a good scenario for him. He needs the right scenario to develop in front of him, and it looks like in this race that should be the case.”