Del Mar is in the midst of installing a new turf course, a project that began on Wednesday and is expected to continue through next week. Track president Joe Harper said the project will take about eight working days.

“We’ve got the chute done,” Harper said. “We can do about 10 percent [of the course] a day.

The turf course was widened over the winter to accommodate larger fields. The new sod was grown off the track grounds and arrived at Del Mar Wednesday. Harper said the emphasis in coming months is for the root system to be developed.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Richard Baltas had his first three-win day on Thursday at Santa Anita, a milestone that was not a complete surprise.

Baltas said Friday he was optimistic that Silk in Silver ($3.80) and Rangi ($6.80) could win the first and seventh races on Friday, but that a win in the fourth race by Our Glitter Ball ($20.40) was a pleasant surprise.

“I thought I’d win two,” Baltas said. “The other filly is coming around, but I think mentally a little behind.”

Baltas, 52, saddled his first winner in 1991, and has a 27-horse stable at Santa Anita.

The final meeting at Hollywood Park last autumn ended with a purse underpayment of more than $500,000 that will be distributed in coming weeks, according to Joe Morris, president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California.

The purse payments will be made to owners who had horses earn purses in overnight races.

Los Alamitos is accepting nomination for three lucrative Thoroughbred races in July and December.

The $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles will be run on July 5. The Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby takes the place of the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park as the top main track race for 3-year-olds in the summer in Southern California.

Los Alamitos has assumed five weeks of racing in July and December previously held at Hollywood Park.

Regular nominations for the Los Alamitos Derby close on May 1.

Patrick Mackey, who has served as assistant racing secretary for the New York Racing Association, Arlington Park, Hawthorne Race Course and Gulfstream Park, was named the racing secretary at Golden Gate Fields on Friday.

Mackey, 36, will replace David Jerkens, who recently accepted the position of racing secretary at Del Mar. Mackey will begin work at Golden Gate on March 27 and have a chance to work with Jerkens for six weeks.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Risky Rachel, who returned from a 15-month layoff to win two stakes at Tampa Bay Downs this winter, has returned to New York, where she will take aim at next Saturday’s Broadway Stakes at Aqueduct, a race she won in 2012.

Risky Rachel, a 7-year-old daughter of Limehouse owned and bred by Sanford Bacon, suffered a tendon injury when finishing fifth in the Iroquois Stakes at Belmont in October 2012, according to her trainer, Juan Coronel.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher sent his first shipment of graded stakes horses back from south Florida to New York earlier this week, including Grade 1 winners Princess of Sylmar and Havana.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Itsmyluckyday finished a tiring fourth while making his first start since June in the Gulfstream Park Handicap on March 8 and has bounced back “110 percent,” trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. said.

Itsmyluckyday lost the second half of his 3-year-old campaign last year when he fractured his pelvis during the Grade 3 Pegasus at Monmouth Park.

[Clocker Reports: Get Mike Welsch’s clocker reports from Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows]

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Most everybody was surprised to see Declan’s Warrior fighting for the lead under jockey Jose Lezcano when launching his comeback from a seven-month layoff in Thursday’s eighth race. But nobody was more surprised than his trainer, Nick Zito, who was hoping to see him laying several lengths off the pace in his first start since being eased after running less than a quarter-mile of the Grade 1 King’s Bishop last August at Saratoga.

Intense Holiday, Albano, and Vicar’s in Trouble – the first three finishers in the Risen Star Stakes – are among eight 3-year-olds headed to the Louisiana Derby, Fair Grounds stakes coordinator Scott Jones said Wednesday. The others are Commanding Curve, Gold Hawk, In Trouble, Louies Flower, and Rise Up.