LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Baffert wasn’t even here for closing weekend of the Churchill Downs fall meet, and yet he was most responsible for the racing memories that will linger through the long Kentucky winter.

Baffert not only won the annual fall highlight, the Grade 1 Clark Handicap, with Hoppertunity on Friday, but he also was represented by a 2-year-old whose victory on the Stars of Tomorrow card Saturday was so awe-inspiring that the colt drew the most backing among individual interests in the opening pool of the 2015 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Belmont Child Care Association will hold its annual holiday event Saturday at Belmont Park, where children of backstretch workers will get to buy presents for their parents and siblings.

The event is held at the Turf and Field Club at Belmont Park from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – David Hinsley posted a training double on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, taking the opener with Hashtag Giddy Up ($9.20) and the ninth race with On the River ($19.20). Fan favorite Rosemary Homeister Jr. piloted On the River and received a warm round of applause as she returned to the winner’s circle. Homeister, who has finished second in the standings at Tampa twice during her career, had been absent since February 2011 when she stopped riding after becoming pregnant with her first child. Victoria Rose was born in August of that year.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – “Good luck and good racing!”

It’s a simple five-word phrase, but much like Tom Durkin’s “at the Spaaaaaaaa,” Richard Grunder’s trademark salute to the fans following the completion of his daily announcement of scratches and changes is completely unique and an indelible part of Tampa Bay Downs’s charm.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Leave the Light On and Frosted, the 1-2 finishers from Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, are heading to south Florida for the winter as their trainers plot out a campaign that each hopes ultimately gets his charge to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Downs 2014-15 season got off to a good start on Saturday, its earliest opening in recent history, as the 10-race card featured full fields and competitive racing, and it attracted good handle.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Patrick Husbands took full advantage of Luis Contreras’s absence last week in the race for the Woodbine riding title, winning four races from Friday through Sunday to carry a 164-159 advantage into the meet’s final week. If Husbands can preserve his lead, he would snap Contreras’s streak of three straight Woodbine riding titles.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A pair of Woodbine trainers weren’t shy about trying their fillies against males in stakes races last weekend. Mark Casse and John Ross sent out the fillies Shez a Masterpiece and Brooklynsway to third- and fourth-place finishes in Saturday’s Coronation Futurity, and Casse also sent Queen’s Plate winner Lexie Lou out to a second-place finish behind Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner California Chrome in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar on Saturday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – As the Woodbine meet enters its final week, Steve Koch, vice president of Thoroughbred racing for Woodbine Entertainment Group, said an analysis of the main-track surface is ongoing, and a decision on a potential surface change likely won’t be made until March.

“It’s still an open case,” he said. “All avenues are under full consideration.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Private Zone will be in a New York state of mind – and being – in 2015.

Private Zone, the winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Cigar Mile, will be based in New York next year, with one of his major goals being the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap in June, according to Rene Douglas, the former jockey who manages the horse for Good Friends Stable.