Average daily all-sources handle for the 56-day Oaklawn Park meet in Hot Springs, Ark., declined 10.2 percent compared to the 49-day meet last year, according to figures provided by the track, though total handle rose 2.5 percent.

The average figure this year was $2,777,371, compared to $3,094,711 last year, when Oaklawn cancelled eight of its first 18 cards because of adverse weather. The track did not cancel any cards this year. Total handle this year for 56 days was $155.5 million, compared to total handle of $151.6 million last year over 49 days.

OPELOUSAS, La. - Hurricane Bluff set a blistering pace in Wednesday night’s $50,000 Inaugural Stakes at Evangeline Downs before finding more in the late going to prevail in the opening-day feature for 3-year-olds.

Jockey Tyler Baze, who has not ridden since August because of a suspension for failing to take a Breathalyzer test, postponed a hearing with Los Alamitos stewards last weekend that could have led to his reinstatement.

A new hearing could be held as early as this weekend, according to Bob Fletcher of the Winners Foundation. The Winners Foundation works with people in Southern California racing.

According to Darrell Haire, the Jockeys’ Guild western region manager, Baze asked that the hearing be “put off a little bit.”

Frank Alexander, who has trained horses for more than 40 years, has retired at the age of 74.

Alexander won 997 races from 7,009 starters and his horses earned $28,569,136 in purse money. Equibase records show he won his first race in 1970, but began training on a regular basis in 1974. His last starter was Big Screen, who got beat neck in last Saturday’s Calder Derby. Big Screen, a 3-year-old son of Speightstown, gave Alexander his last win on Dec. 31.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Fatal Bullet, Canada’s horse of the year in 2008, made his seasonal debut for a $62,500 claiming price here last Saturday and was a punctual front-running choice at 5 1/2 furlongs under jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson.

“He’s lost a step, but he’s good enough to beat those,” said Reade Baker, who trains Fatal Bullet for the Bear Stable of Danny Dion.

While Fatal Bullet’s salad days may be a thing of the past, his stablemate Bear Tough Tiger, a 4-year-old gelding who has won 4 of his 5 lifetime starts, could be ready to pick up the torch for Baker and Dion.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Tu Endie Wei came to the races with a tough act to follow, as her older half-sister Biofuel was Canada’s horse of the year and the champion of her division as a 3-year-old.

But Tu Endie Wei, a homebred who races for Kentuckian Brereton C. Jones and is trained by Reade Baker, is closing that gap as she took home the Sovereign Award as Canada’s champion 2-year-old filly and returned to action here last Saturday with an impressive victory in the Star Shoot Stakes.

AUBURN, Wash. – With the sun peeking out and Mount Rainier standing watch above the clubhouse turn, Cat On Base equaled the track record for 5 1/2 furlongs last Saturday at Emerald Downs. The 5-year-old Washington-bred gelding ran the distance in 1:01.37 to tie a mark established by two other horses, and he narrowly missed the North American dirt record of 1:01.03 set by Rule by Force at Yavapai Downs in 2009.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The nationwide tour of Bob Baffert’s 3-year-olds hits New York Saturday when the Hall of Fame trainer sends out both Stirred Up and Brigand in the Grade 2, $200,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.

A field of seven was entered for the Jerome, a one-turn mile at Aqueduct that is now run on the calendar where the Withers used to be run. None of the horses in the field has the necessary graded earnings to make it into the Kentucky Derby field, but Baffert said Wednesday that should Stirred Up run well he could be considered for the Preakness on May 19.

AUBURN, Wash. – Tim McCanna spent much of the winter and early spring hauling horses the 700 miles between the San Francisco Bay Area and his ranch in Yakima, Wash. “Doing laps” is what the trainer called his long-haul routine, all part of his effort to build a formidable racing stable at Golden Gate Fields to rival his powerhouse at Emerald Downs.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – European imports spice up a pair of turf allowance races scheduled as the co-features on Friday’s nine-race card at Aqueduct.

Laughing, a half-sister to the Irish-bred Comic Strip – an eight-time Group 1 winner in Hong Kong – tops a $69,000 second-level allowance race going a mile in the day’s third event.