HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has saddled the winners of six major stakes during Oaklawn’s annual Racing Festival of the South, and he could add to his record next month. The stable has a handful of horses training toward festival stakes, among them Golden Lad, who won his fourth straight race in the Grade 3, $200,000 Razorback Handicap last Saturday at Oaklawn.

On the heels of a Thoroughbred meet that experienced an uptick in handle, Sam Houston Race Park will move into its Quarter Horse season Friday night with a card of 10 trial races, a new racing secretary, and a series of post-race concerts. The 24-night meet will continue through May 11.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – “I have to find the right spot for Spot.”

So says trainer Nick Zito, who is looking at several options for recent acquisition Spot, a 3-year-old son of Pulpit he purchased privately for owner Joseph Moss prior to his upset victory in the Grade 2 Swale on March 1 at Gulfstream Park. Leading the list of options is the March 29 Florida Derby, a race Zito has won three times with High Fly (2005), Ice Box (2010), and Dialed In (2011).

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Ontario Racing Commission has implemented a series of precautionary measures after a single case of the equine herpesvirus, EHV-1, was reported at Woodbine.

According to a notice issued by the ORC, a 5-year-old filly in Barn 10 on the Woodbine backstretch showed neurological signs of EHV-1 on March 13 but did not have a fever. The filly was removed from Woodbine, put into isolation Saturday, and is in stable condition.

Wise Dan, the reigning two-time Horse of the Year, had his fourth workout since he returned to training when breezing five furlongs Tuesday in 1:01 over the Polytrack surface at Keeneland.

“He rocked it,” trainer Charlie LoPresti said. “They caught him going out [six furlongs] in 1:13 and change. Everything’s going really well for us.”

LoPresti said he definitely is targeting the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile on April 11 on the Keeneland turf as a comeback spot for the 7-year-old gelding.

Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice, who gamely won his 4-year-old debut March 8 in the Gulfstream Park Handicap, will make his next start in the Grade 2, $400,000 New Orleans Handicap on March 29, according to a release from owner Dogwood Stables on Tuesday.

Mike Smith, who rides Intense Holiday in the Louisiana Derby and Fiftyshadesofgold in the Fair Grounds Oaks, has the mount, the release said. Smith rode Palace Malice in the Belmont but wasn’t aboard the colt in his two most recent starts.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Euphrosyne and Please Explain are both candidates for next month’s Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy for 3-year-old fillies at Oaklawn, according to their respective trainers, Steve Asmussen and Tom Proctor. Both horses exit the track’s Grade 3, $150,000 Honeybee on March 8.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – With a winning 4-year-old debut now under her belt, Close Hatches could see action in a pair of Grade 1 races over the next several months. Trainer Bill Mott said Tuesday that the filly’s upcoming campaign could include the Apple Blossom and Ogden Phipps.

Two of the leading local hopes for the $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 29 had major workouts for the race Monday, and both Albano and Gold Hawk went fast.

Albano, who finished second by a nose in the Feb. 22 Risen Star Stakes, had a five-furlong, in-company workout that was timed in 59.60 seconds, the fastest of 23 works at the distance Monday.

Gold Hawk, third in the Lecomte and fifth in the Risen Star, had a solo drill, going six furlongs in 1:12, a very fast time for Fair Grounds, particularly on a morning when the track surface wasn’t especially glib.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has lifted a quarantine on two barns at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa., according to a spokeswoman for the department.

The department lifted the quarantine after tests on 74 horses in the barns were negative for equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious disease that has disrupted racing and training at Parx all winter. The horses in the barns were exposed to the virus three weeks ago by a filly who showed signs of the disease before being removed to a private farm.