LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than 36 hours ahead of time, Churchill Downs announced Tuesday evening that they have canceled the nine-race card scheduled for Thursday afternoon because of an oppressive heat wave that is being forecast for this region.

Thursday was to begin the final four-day week of the 39-day spring meet with a 12:45 p.m. post time, but with the weather forecast calling for a high temperature of 104 degrees, the decision was made to cancel, Churchill spokesman John Asher said.

Nine horses who raced at Ruidoso Downs this spring have tested positive for three banned medications, including the powerful painkiller dermorphin, an official with the New Mexico Racing Commission said on Tuesday.

The names of the nine horses and their trainers have not been released because the commission is still finalizing its investigation, according to the commission's director, Vince Mares. The trainers involved have not been notified.
Once notified, they will be given a chance to request a second test.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Japanese jockey Yuichi Fukunaga will ride at Churchill Downs this weekend before launching a summertime campaign in Southern California, his agent, Brian Beach, said on Tuesday.

Fukunaga, the leading rider at Japan Racing Association tracks in 2011 and this year, is expected to begin riding at Hollywood Park on the week of July 4.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The victory by Capital Plan in the Grade 3 Beverly Hills Handicap last Sunday has co-owner and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer thinking about the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita in November.

“Long-range, we would hope to be good enough to run on Breeders’ Cup day,” Hollendorfer said. “That’s a long way away.

“We don’t want to use her all up before then. The Breeders’ Cup is on home territory.”

How Capital Plan will be campaigned until the autumn is unclear.

Turallure, the heavy favorite for the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap on the closing-day card here Sunday, tuned up for the one-mile turf race by breezing a half-mile Tuesday over the Keeneland Polytrack in 49.60 seconds for trainer Charlie Lopresti.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Tres Borrachos is based at Betfair Hollywood Park, but Saturday’s $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap will be only his second start on that track in the last year.

The winner of the Grade 2 Swaps Stakes here, way back in 2008, the 7-year-old Tres Borrachos makes his first start in the Grade 1 Triple Bend since a seventh-place finish in the Charles Town Classic in West Virginia in April.

“I think he wants to run fresh,” trainer Marty Jones said. “It’s going to set him up for the San Diego.”

Keith Charles, a Thoroughbred trainer, has been suspended six months by stewards at Louisiana Downs for a positive finding of the powerful painkiller dermorphin, according to Louisiana regulators, becoming the first Thoroughbred trainer to be issued a suspension for the drug.

The late Kip Deville, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 2007, is one of five individuals to be inducted into the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame at Remington Park on Sept. 26, the track announced Friday. The event is part of the Oklahoma Derby week festivities this year, with the big race itself to be run two weeks earlier than usual, on Sept. 30.

Kip Deville was bred in Oklahoma and won his maiden at Remington in 2005. The other equine inductee is Highland Ice, who was 15 for 16 at Remington. He won stakes on five consecutive Oklahoma Classics Day cards, from 1995-1999.

Plans are in the works for a new infield video board at Lone Star Park, which has been served by the same JumboTron since the track opened in 1997. The Grand Prairie Sports Facilities Development Corp., which leases the Lone Star facilities to Global Gaming, last week approved contributing as much as $500,000 toward the project in a move that matches funds committed by Global.

“It’s a 50-50 proposition, with our limit $500,000 if it goes over $1 million,” said Tannie Camarata, treasurer for the sports corporation.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – A veteran Grade 1 winner trying to regain top form and an exceptional 2-year-old filly making the first start of her career share the spotlight Thursday on an appealing card at Betfair Hollywood Park.

Rail Trip is a 7-year-old gelding with a million-dollar résumé and three graded stakes wins, including the Hollywood Gold Cup.

Executiveprivilege is a $650,000 juvenile with fast works and an optimistic assessment by trainer Bob Baffert: “I think she is pretty special.”