ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The wonderful career of the venerable 10-year-old Salty Langfuhn appears to be winding down, and he should be favored in Thursday’s seventh race, a $16,000 claimer for 3-year-olds and up.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Northern Causeway was named British Columbia’s Horse of the Year at the annual Thoroughbred Awards Dinner held at Hastings on Saturday evening.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As the 2011 racing season comes to a close, it became abundantly clear Saturday that owner Charlotte Weber has a lot to look forward to in 2012.

Weber is the head of Live Oak Plantation, which on Saturday at Aqueduct sent out To Honor and Serve to victory in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile and Souper Speedy to a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, in just the 2-year-old colt’s second race.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – At this late stage of the Woodbine meet, the older Ontario-sired ranks have become depleted, which has given J J for Dave the opportunity to land his first stakes in Wednesday’s $125,000 Sir Barton.

J J for Dave nearly captured the June 19 Steady Growth, a stakes for Ontario-sired stock that was run at the Sir Barton distance of 1 1/16 miles. He set a moderate pace then before losing by just a neck to the heavily favored Sand Cove, a Canadian champion.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – In the immediate wake of Maritimer’s win in the 1 1/8-mile Coronation Futurity here Nov. 6, his connections had stated that the colt was through for the season.

But circumstances alter cases, and in the days immediately following the Coronation Futurity, Maritimer’s connections changed course.

“At first we’d said we’d put him away, but he came back so good,” said Sid Attard, who trains Maritimer for owner/breeder Howard Walton. “You’ve got to run them when they’re good.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs ended its 21-day fall meet Sunday with a tie for leading trainer between Steve Asmussen and Mike Maker.

Maker led Asmussen by a 15-14 count going into the 11-race finale. Asmussen won the eighth race with a 5-1 shot, and either man could have won the title outright when each had his final starter of the meet in the 10th race. But Twinspired finished a distant second for Maker and Joes Blazing Aaron was a tired fourth for Asmussen, leaving them deadlocked.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After an admittedly brutal 2010-11 winter meet in terms of quality and quantity, New York Racing Association officials are cautiously optimistic that the lure of increased purse money will bring a more appealing product to this winter’s Aqueduct inner track season, which gets under way Wednesday.

Beginning Wednesday, there will be 84 scheduled days of racing over the inner track through March 31. Aqueduct’s main track will open April 4 for a brief 14-day stint before racing shifts to Belmont Park on April 27.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – General Quarters, the two-time Grade 1 winner who made his septuagenarian owner-trainer one of the most popular Kentucky Derby stories of recent years, was retired Monday after finishing last of 13 in the Clark Handicap on Friday at his home track of Churchill Downs.

Tom McCarthy said General Quarters is not injured but that he was concerned about the lack of interest the 5-year-old horse had shown in his recent races.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Cloud Man had to be euthanized because of the severe injuries he suffered on Sunday in the Hollywood Derby, trainer John Shirreffs said Monday morning.

“He had multiple fractures of his pastern, and there was no way to put it back together without pain and, eventually, founder,” Shirreffs said. “The most humane thing to do when they in that condition is to do it quickly, while they are in shock. If you do it then, they are not really suffering.”

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Ultimate Eagle completed a dream weekend for owner B.J. Wright and trainer Mike Pender by leading from start to finish in the Grade 1, $250,000 Hollywood Derby on Sunday, one day after Wright and Pender captured the Citation Handicap with Jeranimo.

Ultimate Eagle ($31.40), ignored yet again in the betting, was able to set soft fractions and then hold off a cavalry charge of late runners to prevail by three-quarters of a length in the 1 1/4-mile grass race for 3-year-olds.