VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Canadian Thoroughbred racing season begins Saturday, and for the first time in recent memory, Hastings will get the ball rolling.

The eight-race card will be the first of 69 days scheduled for the 2013 meet. Post time for the first of eight races is 1:50 p.m. Pacific.

The biggest day of the meet is Sept. 8, when the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby will headline six stakes that include three $100,000 races – the British Columbia Oaks, Jack Diamond Futurity, and Sadie Diamond Futurity.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Woodbine Entertainment Group is lowering its takeout on win wagers to 14.95 percent, the lowest in North America, beginning with the opening of the Thoroughbred meeting on April 20.

“We have to continue to take care of the loyal horse-playing customer, and this is a great way to do it,” Greg Martin, director of wagering operations, said in a press release.

“The win bet is our most popular wager, and reducing that takeout by 2 percent will financially benefit most horseplayers, from the sophisticated fan to the novice.”

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Track officials at Fonner Park on Thursday morning made the decision to cancel Friday's card after a storm left the racing surface, as well as the city, covered in a layer of ice.

Freezing rain and sleet began falling Tuesday afternoon and continued well into Wednesday, leaving more than an inch of ice covering the track. Temperatures Thursday were forecast to reach only the mid-30's with overcast conditions.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Rose to Gold will be heading into next month's Kentucky Oaks in top form after winning her second consecutive Grade 3 stakes Wednesday, the $400,000 Fantasy at Oaklawn Park. She led throughout for a 4 1/2-length win over Manuka Honey, while it was another length back in third to Marathon Lady.

The Fantasy opened the 39th annual Racing Festival of the South, a weeklong series of stakes run over the final four dates of the Oaklawn meet. The eight stakes are worth a cumulative $2.9 million, with the festival to continue Thursday with the $100,000 Carousel.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Abigail Adsit, a former assistant trainer to Linda Rice, won her first two races last week since going out on her own earlier this year.

On Friday, Adsit won a starter allowance at Aqueduct with Giant Indian. On Saturday, she won a $7,500 claiming race at Parx Racing with Miss Mexique. From seven starters, she has had two winners and a third.

"It was unbelievable, an honor, a lot of hard work that paid off," Adsit said about her first two wins.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Cluster of Stars, the undefeated New York-bred filly, will meet six rivals in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Distaff Handicap at six furlongs.

Cluster of Stars drew post 4 and will be ridden by Junior Alvarado, who replaces Javier Castellano, who is at Keeneland on Saturday.

Cluster of Stars, a daughter of Greeley's Galaxy, has won all four of her races over Aqueduct's inner track. Two starts back she won the Correction Stakes over the eight-time stakes winner Nicole H.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher said that Ciao Bella, who won the Grade 3 Rampart at Gulfstream on March 30, is getting a freshening at the Peyton training center in Ocala, Fla.

Pletcher said that there is no physical issue with Ciao Bella, he just wants to have a fresh horse for the summer and fall.

"We'll give her a little freshening and bring her back at Saratoga," Pletcher said.

Ciao Bella has run eight times since last July and has won her last two, an allowance at Gulfstream followed by the Rampart, her first graded stakes victory.

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – A significant chunk of the winner’s share of $86,478 earned by Mr Ease Cartel in Sunday’s $205,900 El Primero Del Ano Derby at Los Alamitos will finance getting the colt in other major stakes this year.

Already, the partnership that owns Mr Ease Cartel has paid a $25,000 fee to supplement him to the All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs later this summer.  On July 1, the partnership will owe a $30,000 supplemental fee to make Mr Ease Cartel eligible for the $1 million Los Alamitos Super Derby in November.

American Sugar will be cutting back to six furlongs in the Instant Racing for 3-year-old fillies on Friday at Oaklawn Park. The race is being held at one turn for the first time since its inaugural running in 1996, when it was run as the Althea. She is part of a 10-horse field that includes Blueeyesintherein, making her first start since winning last summer’s Grade 3 Debutante at Churchill Downs, and Boss Barney’s Babe, a recent allowance winner at Fair Grounds.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – There’s a first time for everything, even at a track as old as Keeneland.

Wise Dan will become the first reigning Horse of the Year to make a comeback at 76-year-old Keeneland when he runs Friday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile, something that makes the gelding’s trainer, Charlie LoPresti, quite proud.

“It’s an honor because this is home,” said LoPresti, based at Keeneland for the last 15 years. “We’ll lead him over hoping he can start off another great year with a win.”