Race 1

A dispute between Colonial Downs and the state’s horsemen over the proper length of the 2014 meet escalated on Tuesday when Colonial officials said that they were prepared to shutter the track this year and seek out a live-racing contract with a group other than the Virginia Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.

A relatively slow start (1 for 7) to the spring meet can be easily forgotten by Ken Ramsey with a big upcoming weekend.

Ramsey, who with his wife, Sarah, more than doubled their own record for the most wins for an owner at a Keeneland meet with 25 last spring, not only will be looking to get a third horse into the May 3 Kentucky Derby but also is anxious to see his standout turf mare, Stephanie’s Kitten, in her 5-year-old debut.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Wise Dan was assigned post 3 and will face six other older horses when the reigning two-time Horse of the Year makes his eagerly awaited seasonal debut Friday in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile on the Keeneland turf.

John Velazquez has the mount on Wise Dan, a 7-year-old gelding making his first start since a victory in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Mile clinched his second straight Horse of the Year title.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – On Fire Baby appears to have more in her favor coming into Friday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park than she did last season, when she won the race off an 11-month layoff. This year, On Fire Baby will have the benefit of a start under her belt when she breaks from post 4 in the field of five fillies and mares. Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race were taken Wednesday.

When Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, opens for its 18th Thoroughbred spring meet Thursday night, the track will utilize something it couldn’t for much of the first month of last year’s meet: its turf course.

Four grass races are scheduled for opening night – two more than Lone Star ran last year from the meet’s April 11 opening day through May 9 due to myriad problems with the course.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Almost a year ago, Santa Anita Derby winner California Chrome began to catch trainer Art Sherman’s attention.

California Chrome was ready to start in the first race for juveniles of the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting. Going into the race, Sherman gave the colt the sort of mild compliment that a trainer with an unraced juvenile might express.

“He acts like he can run a little bit,” Sherman said last April 23, three days before the colt’s debut in the 4 1/2-furlong race for California-breds.

The 3-year-old Pete’s Slew improved his record to 4 for 4 in non-stakes events last Thursday, rallying five wide to win a six-furlong $80,000 optional claimer. Because the Washington-bred son of Matty G had won at the first allowance condition in his previous start, he ran for an $80,000 tag and went unclaimed.

Pete’s Slew’s only two losses came in stakes, and trainer Tim McCanna said he might give the horse another chance.

“Maybe we’ll try another stakes,” McCanna said. “He knows how to win, and he runs real hard.”

The best-laid plans ... well, you know the rest.

Last week, trainer Billy Morey was hoping that a one-mile allowance race on turf would fill because it would be a perfect prep for Positive Response for the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile on turf April 26.

When the race didn’t fill, Morey went to Plan B, a six-furlong allowance race on the main track last Sunday. Winning wasn’t the most important thing about the race, which was good because Positive Response finished fifth, 9 1/2 lengths behind Valiant Flame, who won in 1:09.70.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Champion Will Take Charge has been focused and impressive in his training all year at Oaklawn Park, and in his final work for the Oaklawn Handicap over the local strip Tuesday, he displayed those attributes once again. Will Take Charge cruised three furlongs in 35.80 seconds to prepare for the Grade 2, $600,000 race Saturday.