VANCOUVER, British Columbia – According to Glen Todd, a leading owner of horses at Hastings and a member of the British Columbia Horse Racing Industry Management Committee, an “agreement in principle” has been reached on dates for Hastings next year.

The committee is in charge of managing the horse racing industry in British Columbia, setting the dates as well as allocating the money that is split among the Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, and Great Canadian Gaming Corp., the operators of Hastings and Fraser Downs, the local Standardbred track.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Tyler Baze, who has not ridden since June 13, completed a 60-day residency stay at a Southern California alcohol treatment center earlier this week and has traveled to Washington state to exercise horses for an intended comeback, according to his agent, Craig O’Bryan.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Barring a setback in her training, Close Hatches, a three-time graded stakes-winning 3-year-old filly, will run in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, trainer Bill Mott said Friday.

“She deserves a chance to be in there,” Mott said on an overcast fall morning at Belmont Park. “She will be.”

Close Hatches gives Mott a potent 1-2 punch for the Distaff, in which he also will run the race’s two-time defending winner, Royal Delta. Mott has won the Distaff five times, including the last three, when it was called the Ladies’ Classic.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The relatively low Beyer Speed Figures earned by the winners of the two Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds on opening weekend of the Keeneland fall meet had at least one person involved – trainer Mark Casse – wondering, “How is that possible?”

My Conquestadory, trained by Casse, earned a 74 Beyer figure in an otherwise highly impressive victory in the Oct. 4 Darley Alcibiades, while We Miss Artie, trained by Todd Pletcher, received just a 70 in capturing the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity the following day after a major rainstorm.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Reade Baker will send out three Bear Stables runners in Sunday’s Grade 1 Nearctic Stakes at six furlongs on turf, and he said Fatal Bullet, Bear No Joke, and Bear Tough Tiger all are capable of making their presence felt in the $300,000 race, which is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

“I’ve been pointing all three for the Nearctic,” Baker said. “I gave them all a break at the training center. Every one of them’s perfect.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Tightend Touchdown, who has gone from $35,000 claimer to stakes winner, will be pointed to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, trainer Jason Servis said Thursday.

Tightend Touchdown, a 4-year-old gelding by Pure Precision, won the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup at Penn National in June. He since has finished second in three consecutive turf stakes, including the Grade 3 Turf Monster at Parx on Labor Day.

“His last two races were on soft turf, and when he gets firm, he likes it a lot better,” Servis said. “He’s been real good for us.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – With an eye toward next year, trainer Shug McGaughey is taking a conservative route for the rest of Honor Code’s 2-year-old campaign.

McGaughey said Thursday that Honor Code, the runner-up to Havana in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 5, will skip the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 and instead be pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 30.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Garrett Gomez, who missed part of the summer while dealing with issues related to alcoholism, took off his mounts at Santa Anita on Thursday, and was later removed from his mounts for the rest of the racing week by track stewards, pending a hearing regarding his absence.

Gomez’s agent, Tony Matos, met with track stewards at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday to discuss the situation. Matos later that said Gomez sent him a text message on Thursday morning, stating, “Take me off the horses. I’m not going to ride for the time being.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Jebrica has had a productive year running at mostly Emerald Downs, where he won the $50,000 Budweiser and finished third three times. His best race for veteran trainer Jim Penney might have been in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile, where he finished a close fourth behind Herbie D.