DEL MAR, Calif. – Chivalry is not dead. It was ladies first at Del Mar on Wednesday, when jockey Chantal Sutherland and trainer Kristin Mulhall joined forces to win the first race of the meet with Miss California as this seaside track’s 75th anniversary season got under way to a rip-roaring start.

The grandstand and apron were jammed from one end to the other long before the day’s first race, and Sutherland said the noise from the crowd could be heard as the first-race field went around the far turn.

CINCINNATI - River Downs canceled live racing after six races Wednesday because of a severe thunderstorm that came through the Cincinnati area.

Following an hour delay for the storm, it was decided that the track was unsafe because of the nearly three inches of rain that fell in less than an hour along with golf-ball-sized hail. The final four races on the card, including the Queen City Dash for Quarter Horses, were called off.

Racing is scheduled to resume Thursday at 1:30 pm.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Despite the defections of Bodemeister and Union Rags from the $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park on July 29, Alpha will make his next start in the $600,000 Jim Dandy here at Saratoga on July 28, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin confirmed on Wednesday.

[Complete coverage of racing at Saratoga: News, PPs, and video]

McLaughlin said the fact Alpha has shown an affinity for Saratoga’s main track and that he doesn’t have to ship were the primary reasons for staying home.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Last summer, owner Fred Brei sent Jackson Bend to trainer Nick Zito before the Saratoga meet and wound up winning both the James Marvin and Grade 1 Forego stakes. Now Brei is hoping lightning can strike twice after shipping another of his talented homebreds, Fort Loudon, from south Florida to Zito for the upcoming meet.

[Complete coverage of racing at Saratoga: News, PPs, and video]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As Gov. Andrew Cuomo puts the finishing touches on a state takeover of the New York Racing Association, a poised Ellen McClain is gearing up for what she believes will be a successful Saratoga meet, her first – and some suggest last – as the organization’s president and chief operating officer.

Two days before Friday’s opening of Saratoga’s 144th meet – a 40-day meet that runs through Labor Day – McClain spoke about the upcoming Saratoga meet and her future in the wake of a published report that stated she will be fired in seven weeks.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ian Wilkes already knows what it’s like to win big races at Saratoga. The Australian-born Wilkes served as Carl Nafzger’s assistant when Street Sense captured both the Jim Dandy and Travers here in 2007, and two years later earned the first Grade 1 victory of his own training career with Capt. Candyman Can’s triumph in the King’s Bishop.

[Complete coverage of racing at Saratoga: News, PPs, and video]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The last time a graded stakes was run for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga, trainer Tony Dutrow was in the winner’s circle following Grace Hall’s victory in last September’s Grade 1 Spinaway.

The feature on Friday’s 10-race opening day card at Saratoga is the Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville Stakes for juvenile fillies, and Dutrow is feeling confident that So Many Ways can help him pick up where he left off.

[Complete coverage of racing at Saratoga: News, PPs, and video]

AUBURN, Wash. – Hudson Landing, winner of the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile in April, is among the horses being pointed to the Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 19 at Emerald Downs.

Trainer Blaine Wright said he will start Hudson Landing on Sunday in the $50,000 Mt. Rainier Handicap at Emerald, an opportunity to see if the horse’s recent sharp form can translate to a dirt surface. Hudson Landing has raced on grass and synthetic surfaces for most of his career, and Sunday’s start would be his first on dirt since a runner-up effort in a maiden race at Gulfstream Park in 2010.

American Act, one of the best 3-year-old sprinters on the Southern California circuit, will miss the Del Mar meet, trainer Jack Carava said.

“He’s turned out,” Carava said. “He just started training poorly. He wasn’t training sharply. We decided to kick him out for a couple of months.
“There’s nothing major wrong with him. We did a nuclear scan, and nothing showed up. But he always trained with a lot of energy, and then he didn’t seem to want to do it. He’ll come back after Del Mar.”

Trainer Jeff Bonde had a rough finish to the Hollywood Park meeting.

Last Saturday, Bonde had contenders in three major stakes, but no success. Amarish was sixth in the Grade 3 Hollywood Juvenile, the same position that Izzy Rules finished in the Grade 2 A Gleam Handicap. Unusual Way finished eighth in the Landaluce Stakes after setting the early pace.