The Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap will again anchor Lone Star Park’s stakes schedule and serve as the middle leg of the Global Gaming Triple that was introduced last meet. In all, the Dallas area track will run 11 stakes worth $1.1 million during the 50-date meet that opens April 11. The season runs through July 7.

Thursday’s nine-race card at Aqueduct was canceled due to extreme cold, New York Racing Association officials announced early Thursday morning. Aqueduct and Belmont Park remained open for simulcasting.

Thursday’s forecast was for sunny skies but temperatures in the low 20s and wind chills in the single digits.

It is the second cancellation of the winter meet. The Dec. 29 card was canceled due to a forecast for snow that never came.

Live racing is expected to resume on Friday, though it is expected to remain cold and snow is forecast for mid-afternoon.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine Entertainment Group announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement in principle with the Ontario government that will ensure the continuation of live racing at Woodbine and Mohawk racetracks for the next two years.

Flashback, a sharp maiden race winner in his 2-year-old debut at Hollywood Park on Dec. 8, worked five furlongs in 58.60 seconds Wednesday.

Trainer Bob Baffert said that Flashback is expected to make his next start in the $200,000 Robert Lewis Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 2.

In Wednesday’s workout, Flashback worked in company with a stablemate, starting about two lengths behind. He moved alongside with a wide move on the turn and finished slightly in front under jockey Martin Garcia.

Though he successfully navigated two turns and a mile in his victory in Sunday’s Turnofthecentury Stakes here, Brigand will return to one turn and seven furlongs for the Grade 2, $250,000 General George Handicap at Laurel on Feb. 18.

Brigand, a New York-bred son of Flatter, won the Turnofthecentury by 2 3/4 lengths on the front end. Under Irad Ortiz Jr., Brigand ran a mile in 1:36.70 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 98.

Conspicuous by her absence from Saturday’s $75,000 Affectionately Stakes field was Ladies Handicap winner Arena Elvira, who trainer Bill Mott confirmed Wednesday has been retired from racing.

Mott, speaking from Florida, said Arena Elvira “wasn’t moving well” coming out of the Ladies. She will be bred to Tapit.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The imposing presence of the undefeated and recently elected 2-year-old champion Shanghai Bobby failed to scare off the opposition for Saturday’s $400,000 Holy Bull, the first of three major Kentucky Derby preps to be run here this meet. Nine other 3-year-olds entered the Grade 3 race, with the somewhat larger-than-expected field potentially posing the biggest obstacle to the champ’s success, considering the short run to the first turn in 1 1/16-mile races at Gulfstream Park.

Trainer Nick Zito reported that his promising 3-year-old turf prospect Flying Bird underwent minor throat surgery Wednesday after flipping his palate during the running of Sunday’s Kitten’s Joy Stakes.

Flying Bird, a son of Street Bird owned by Marylou Whitney, showed little in the Kitten’s Joy, finishing a distant eighth behind the odds-on favorite Charming Kitten. Flying Bird had won each of his two previous starts, both on grass, to close his 2-year-old campaign.

ARCADIA, Calif. – While trainer Doug O’Neill was away in Arkansas on Monday, watching Avare finish seventh in the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park, the stable won its biggest race of the young season with Renee’s Titan in the $150,000 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Clawback, the authoritative winner of Monday’s Jimmy Winkfield Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters at Aqueduct, will be given the opportunity to stretch out in distance for his next start, trainer Rick Violette said Wednesday.

Though Violette had yet to pick out a spot for Clawback’s two-turn debut, he believes the horse has shown him enough to take a shot in a distance race in hopes of joining the Triple Crown trail. Clawback, a son of Put It Back, has yet to run beyond 6 1/2 furlongs in four career starts.