NEW ORLEANS - Nehro, second in last year’s Kentucky Derby, on Saturday at Fair Grounds served notice that he will be a force among this year’s older horses when he scored an impressive, 7 1/4-length victory in his first start since last year’s Belmont Stakes.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A year ago, Ultimate Eagle was an unraced maiden who had survived a bout with colic as a 2-year-old. Next weekend, the 4-year-old starts in the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” trainer Mike Pender said.

That whirlwind has included graded stakes wins in three of the colt’s last four starts, most notably a victory by 7 1/4 lengths in the Grade 2 Strub Stakes for 4-year-olds over 1 1/8 miles on Feb. 4.

The Big Cap will be Ultimate Eagle’s first start on a dirt track over 1 1/4 miles, an issue that does not concern Pender.

Thomas Got Even will inherit the role of favorite for Tuesday night’s $35,000 Harrison Johnson Memorial, an overnight handicap for older horses going 1 1/16 miles at Charles Town.

Maryland-based trainer Tom Iannotti is in a prime position to bring home the lion’s share of the $47,000 purse up for grabs in Monday’s featured ninth race at Parx Racing, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-old Pennsylvania-breds eligible for a first-level allowance.

Iannotti has the coupled entry of The Camden Comet, dropping in class following the first poor performance of his three-race career in Laurel’s Dancing Count, and Tapps, a former maiden claimer who was part of a double disqualification against open-allowance company last time out.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Shotgun Gulch, a Grade 1 winner who had been pointing for next month’s Grade 3, $150,000 Azeri at Oaklawn Park, has been retired after emerging from a Friday workout with a cracked sesamoid in her left foreleg, her breeder, owner, and trainer C.R. Trout said on Saturday.

LEXINGTON , Ky. – Three of the best older horses in North America had early breezes Saturday. That, in itself, hardly qualifies as big news.

But what is unusual is that the workouts came on a cold February morning at Keeneland, where the stable area is largely vacant, save for the likes of Charlie Lopresti. Successful Dan, Wise Dan, and Turallure all worked over the Polytrack surface, and under Lopresti’s watchful eye, as they remain out of sight to the racing public, but only for a few more weeks.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Shotgun Gulch, a Grade 1 winner of more than $500,000, moved closer to an intended start in the Grade 3, $150,000 Azeri at Oaklawn on Friday morning, when she breezed five furlongs in 1:01.

“We’ll put one more serious work in her before we go,” said C.R. Trout, who bred, owns, and trains Shotgun Gulch.

Horse owner Jerry Moss, who campaigned 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta with his wife Ann, served his last meeting as a commissioner of the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday.

Moss’s second four-year term on the racing board ended Jan. 1, 2012, but commissioners are allowed to serve an additional 60 days if the position has not been filled. No replacement for Moss has been named by California Gov. Jerry Brown.

At the end of Thursday’s meeting, Moss was praised by chairman Keith Brackpool for his sporting and regulatory contributions to racing.

At the halfway point of the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, ontrack attendance and all-sources handle have shown increases, track officials said Thursday.

Through Monday, the 36th day of the 72-day meeting, total ontrack attendance increased 6 percent over the corresponding figure from the 2010-11 meeting. While ontrack handle was flat, out-of-state handle was up 12 percent, and all-sources handle was up 7 percent.

Santa Anita had a disappointing season in 2010-11, with all-sources handle declining by 9 percent, track officials said last year.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Javier Castellano reached another career milestone when registering his 3,000th victory aboard Virtuously in Friday’s sixth race at Gulfstream Park.

Castellano, a 34-year-old native of Venezuela, is currently the leading rider at the meet with 71 victories. He rode four winners on Thursday’s card.

“It feels great,” Castellano said. “I’ve been very blessed to have all the support from all the owners and all the trainers and my agent, Matt Muzikar. People think it’s only me. I have a lot of help.”