In 2021, Whit Beckman went into winter with a two-horse stable. Two years later, Beckman will winter horses at two different racetracks, Fair Grounds and Turfway, and trains one of the more promising 2-year-olds in North America, Honor Marie, winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Saturday.

Honor Marie in his route and stakes debut rallied from last into a moderate pace and won the Grade 2, $400,000 KJC by two lengths. His time of 1:44.31 for 1 1/16 miles yielded a 92 Beyer Speed Figure, and Honor Marie looked like he was just getting warmed up at this middle distance.

With her two wins on Sunday’s card, Linda Rice has won 152 races on the New York Racing Association circuit in 2023. The single-year record for wins at NYRA is 164 set by David Jacobson in 2013.

There are 16 scheduled racing days remaining in 2023 at Aqueduct.

Aside from Jacobson, the only trainers to have won more races than Rice in a calendar year at NYRA are Gary Contessa (159 in 2007), Chad Brown (159 in 2022), Frank Martin (156 in 1974), and Brown (154 in 2018).

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Raging Sea won Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Comely Stakes at Aqueduct, it was the 22nd graded stakes win of 2023 on the New York Racing Association circuit for trainer Chad Brown.

Brown is looking to add to that total when he likely sends out multiple runners here on Saturday in the final four graded events of the year on the NYRA calendar.

Straight Arrow arrived back at Tampa Bay Downs over the weekend following his seventh-place finish in Friday’s Grade 2 Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs and will be pointed to a turf race for his next start, most likely at Gulfstream Park, trainer Mike Dini said.

Dini said Straight Arrow had a case of the thumps, an electrolyte imbalance, coming out of the race.

“I don’t know if the track was too loose that he couldn’t get a hold of it,” Dini said. “He had thumps real bad where they don’t get their breath.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Shimmering Allure, three-length winner of the Tempted Stakes on Nov. 5 at Aqueduct, is confirmed to run in the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle Stakes here Dec. 2, trainer Kenny McPeek said this week.

Shimmering Allure, a daughter of Enticed, has already run six times this year, with a maiden victory at Churchill Downs on Sept. 20 and the Tempted – both one-turn mile races – to her credit. The Demoiselle is run at 1 1/8 miles.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Byron Hughes, who has worked as Todd Pletcher’s Belmont Park assistant for the last 10 years, will leave Pletcher’s employ at the end of the month. He plans to continue his studies and hopes to become an equine veterinarian.

“Over the years I gained an interest in veterinarian studies and after many discussions and seeking advice, I thought this was something I’d like to do and I have a lot of support for it too,” said Hughes, 37.