Isn’t He Clever has turned in some memorable stakes wins in New Mexico, from his track-record performance in the Bill Thomas Memorial on the Sunland Park Derby undercard last March, to his 16 3/4-length triumph in the San Juan County Commissioner’s Handicap in June. He’ll launch his 5-year-old season on Tuesday in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance at Sunland that drew fellow stakes winners Homerun Berti and Smack Ridge.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mike Lakow, a former director of racing at the New York Racing Association, has been hired as racing director at Santa Anita, the track announced Friday.

Lakow, 57, will begin working at Santa Anita on March 24 and will assist Santa Anita racing secretary Rick Hammerle, the track said. Lakow currently works as a steward at Calder Race Course in Miami.

Aside from NYRA, Lakow has worked at tracks in Delaware, Dubai, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He spent 12 years with NYRA as director of racing.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The first Santa Anita spring-summer meeting from April 25 to June 29 will look very similar to the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting it replaces even though some of the race names have been changed.

The list of 34 stakes includes six Grade 1 races with familiar names such as the Gamely Stakes, American Oaks, Vanity Stakes, Shoemaker Mile, and Triple Bend Stakes. The Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup has been renamed the Gold Cup at Santa Anita, and will be run on June 28, the final Saturday of the meeting.

Sheltowee’s Boy is to make his next start in either the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel at Oaklawn on March 15 or the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral at Turfway Park on March  22, trainer Brad Cox said Friday. The winner of a first-level allowance at Oaklawn on Feb.  17, Sheltowee’s Boy rallied from 11 lengths back in the one-mile race to earn a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 82.

“He stepped up the other day,” Cox said. “He ran well. They went a little quick up front, which was good for the way he runs.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Todd Pletcher said Thursday that his exciting debut winner Hartford is off the Triple Crown trail. Hartford, a son of Tapit owned by Stonestreet Stables, rallied to a 6 3/4-length maiden victory going seven furlongs here on Jan. 16.

“He had a little filling in his right front leg so we sent him back to Stonestreet,” said Pletcher.

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

Dance With Fate, second in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 15, will be nominated to the Triple Crown for $6,000 in late March, trainer Peter Eurton said.

Eurton stressed that his focus with Dance With Fate is the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on Polytrack at Keeneland on April 12. He said one possible scenario is a start in the Blue Grass followed by the Preakness Stakes on dirt at Pimlico on May 17.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Big Macher won his stakes debut in the California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Jan. 25, a reason for trainer Richard Baltas to point the 4-year-old to the $250,000 San Carlos Stakes on March 8.

Run at seven furlongs, the Grade 2 San Carlos will be a test for Big Macher, who has won 3 of 8 starts and $146,428.

“I think he wants all of seven-eighths,” Baltas said. “He needs to step it up a bit, but he’s a horse with a ton of spirit.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has confirmed that Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice will launch his 2014 campaign here next Saturday in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap. He is one of two major players from last year’s Triple Crown expected to begin their year in the one-mile Gulfstream Park Handicap, along with Preakness runner-up Itsmyluckyday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The 51-day 2014 Hastings live meet begins Sunday, April 27, and concludes Monday, Oct. 13. If business is brisk through October, another four days will be added and the meet could stretch to Oct. 25.

Last year, 69 days were scheduled, but six days were canceled due to a lack of horses. Hastings management is hoping fewer days will result in no cancellations and a better overall product. Last year, the average field size was 7.12.

NEW ORLEANS – The win pictures, displayed side by side, start on one wall, extend the length of a second wall, and go halfway down a third wall in trainer Wes Hawley’s office in his Fair Grounds barn.

“We try to make it all the way around,” Hawley said. “We’ve got about six more to go.”