LOUISVILLE, Ky – No official workouts to report but still plenty to see on a balmy Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs, where 18 of the 21 horses entered for the Kentucky Derby visited the racetrack.

Thoroughbred racing will return for the first time in three years to the Meadowlands on Friday, when the New Jersey track will host the first of two consecutive mixed cards of Thoroughbred racing and harness racing.

The mixed cards are being viewed as an experiment by the operator of the Meadowlands, Jeff Gural, who signed a long-term lease of the Meadowlands last year. The cards will be run on the same days as the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby, two of the most popular days on the Thoroughbred racing calendar.

Soon after Risky Rachel blitzed her rivals in the Broadway Stakes as the first starter for Manny Coronel, the new trainer already had an idea of what to do for an encore.

“We have to be smart for the next race – we want to win again,” said Coronel, a native of Argentina who was an assistant to Pancho Martin, Angel Penna Jr., and Jim Bond, for whom Risky Rachel won 4 of 10 starts, including the Iroquois Stakes last fall.

Friday’s $85,000 Put the Powder To It at Belmont Park looks like a wise choice. Risky Rachel faces only four rivals, and is the prohibitive favorite at 2-5.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Churchill Downs racing staff apparently tried to outdo itself this week. As good as the 12-race Friday card and the Kentucky Oaks shape up – and that’s very good, by virtually all accounts – the 13-race Saturday card and the Kentucky Derby might be even better.

Louisiana Downs will open its 84-date meet Friday with several notable new jockeys and trainers, a pick-five jackpot wager, and some clever fan education initiatives. The Bossier City, La., track, which is home to the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby, will race through Sept. 23.

[bc_video_id:250661:]LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Baffert was wearing dark glasses, so it would have been hard to say for sure, but he seemed surprised at the obviousness of a question asked of him one morning earlier this week. Was he looking at Plum Pretty as a Breeders’ Cup Ladies' Classic contender, and plotting her schedule backward back from the end of the season?

“Well, yeah,” Baffert said after the moment’s hesitation. “She’s definitely a Breeders’ Cup kind of horse.”

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio – Thistledown begins a 122-day racing season Friday with track officials and horsemen hopeful that the suburban Cleveland track will soon be able to install 2,500 video lottery terminals. Thistledown is owned by Caesars Entertainment, which is scheduled to open a casino in downtown Cleveland on May 14 that will have 2,100 slot machines and 65 table games.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Folks keep talking about how tough the Kentucky Derby is this year, but the filly counterpart isn’t a whole lot easier. Yes, Grace Hall merits favoritism Friday in the 138th running of the Kentucky Oaks, but a wide array of results seems plausible when the filly classic is run before 100,000-plus at Churchill Downs.

[KENTUCKY OAKS: Get PPs, watch analysis video, and read latest updates]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ask a sports fan who Garrett Gomez is, or John Velazquez, or Edgar Prado, and they might say a jockey. But ask the same person about Joe Johnson, and the majority surely would acknowledge the six-time NBA All-Star forward for the Atlanta Hawks.

But a Joe Johnson has been plying his trade as a jockey for 23 years, albeit to far less fanfare than the more elite riders in North America. For a few precious moments Friday, however, this Joe Johnson stands a chance to be in the racing spotlight after the Kentucky Oaks is run for the 138th time at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mucho Macho Man, Nates Mineshaft, and Fort Larned are a combined 7 for 8 this year, having won virtually every significant race for older males in south Florida and Louisiana.

Friday, that trio will congregate at Churchill Downs for a sterling renewal of the Grade 2, $300,000 Alysheba Stakes at 1 1/16 miles. A field of 10 was entered, including Successful Dan and Apart, both graded stakes winners over this course and at the distance in the past.