Del Mar is planning to open its 2014 summer meeting on a Thursday instead the usual Wednesday, track president Joe Harper said earlier this week. The July 17 opening day will distance the race meeting from the San Diego County Fair, held from June 7 to July 6 on the same property,

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Now that the new year has begun and all the 2-year-olds have turned 3, even obscure-looking allowance races will bear watching here over the next couple of months. Two prime examples are the second race Thursday and the featured ninth race Friday.

The featured eighth race on Wednesday, a second-level allowance also open to $40,000 claimers, is carded for about 1 1/8 miles on turf, but expecting turf races to actually be contested on turf has recently been a losing enterprise in New Orleans. Turf racing was conducted on both Dec. 20 and Dec. 21, but grass races were moved to the main track because of wet conditions in five of the six racing days since then.

Central Banker has looked like a useful horse since partway through his 2-year-old campaign in 2012, but he has recently begun to look like something more than that, following up a good closing second to Gantry in the Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds with an even better second Dec. 26 at Santa Anita in the Grade 1 Malibu for 3-year-olds.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Four jockeys were involved in two frightening accidents over the weekend, although luckily all four escaped serious injury.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Trainer Joan Scott has earned a reputation as an outstanding developer of young talent, and her record with maidens throughout her career has been impressive, as she wins with 17 percent of her first-time starters and 18 percent of her maiden special weight runners.

Marks Mine capped a stellar 2013 campaign with a front-running victory in an allowance sprint last Thursday, opening day of the Golden Gate Fields meeting, and is looking ahead to an even better 2014.

A 3-year-old filly of 2013, Marks Mine won two stakes sprinting against older this past year, when she had five wins, two seconds, and a third in 10 starts while earning $222,924. Ironically, in stakes limited to 3-year-olds she had a pair of seconds and a third.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Tyler Baze returns to riding from an alcohol-related suspension Wednesday with five mounts on an eight-race program.

Baze was suspended for four months in July after failing an alcohol field test in June at Betfair Hollywood Park. To gain reinstatement, Baze was ordered to attend a 60-day in-house rehabilitation program for alcoholism and undergo counseling with the Winners Foundation, which aids people in California horse racing with substance-abuse problems.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Argentine import Safety Belt will not have an easy race for his American debut in an optional claimer over 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

Safety Belt has been with trainer Ron McAnally since last summer, following an Argentine career that included two seconds and a third in Group 1 races in 2012 and 2013. A successful race Wednesday would lead to a stakes appearance at Santa Anita, possibly in the $300,000 San Antonio Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on Feb. 8.