GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The Bret Calhoun-trained 2-year-olds who swept divisions of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Futurity on Sunday at Lone Star Park are headed to Kentucky.  

Calhoun said Tuesday next race plans are to be determined for both Vietnam Victory, who defeated colts and geldings, and Free Drop Maddy, who won her maiden over fillies.  

“They both have upside,” said Calhoun.  

Brad Cox, who trained 2021 Haskell Invitational winner Mandaloun, will try for his second straight Haskell with the mercurial but maturing Arkansas Derby winner Cyberknife. Bob Baffert, a nine-time Haskell winner, won the 2020 Haskell in the heart of COVID-19 with Authentic and this year sends the lightly raced and still somewhat unexposed Taiba from California.

Ellis Park has moved first post time to 10:30 a.m. Central for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday because of the forecast for extreme heat in the western Kentucky region where the track is located.

First post normally is 12:50 p.m. Central.

“Obviously the safety of our racehorses and backstretch personnel is paramount,” Jeff Inman, general manager at Ellis, said in a Wednesday release. “By starting more than two hours early, we will avoid the full brunt of the heat."

Barber Road, who is on vacation after running in two-thirds of the Triple Crown, has a long range target of next year’s Oaklawn Handicap, according to trainer Johnny Ortiz.  

Ortiz noted Barber Road’s sire, Race Day, won that race and the Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn and those are major objectives for the horse owned by WSS Racing.  

“We’d love for him to do what his daddy did,” said Ortiz.  

Del Mar wore down trainer Robertino Diodoro.

In recent years, California track officials, notably Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens, badgered Diodoro about re-establishing a stable on the West Coast for the first time since 2016. The sustained strategy worked. Diodoro will have approximately 20 horses at the Del Mar summer meeting that begins Friday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockey Slade Callaghan, who has recorded nearly 850 career wins, including 31 stakes, has been named the 2022 recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award. 

The coveted award is given to a jockey who is Canadian-born, Canadian-raised, or a regular rider in the country for more than five years who has made significant contributions to the sport. The colorful Gomez, one of the most successful jockeys in Canadian racing history, died of complications from a three-horse accident in the 1980 Canadian Oaks. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- David Jacobson is attempting another comeback.

Out of the sport for almost four years and gravely ill for a period of that time, Jacobson, the leading trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit from 2012-14, is back training. He purchased four horses at the Fasig-Tipton Horses of Racing Age sale in Lexington on July 11 and on July 16 he claimed a horse for $40,000 at Saratoga.

Everyone, it seems, has a horse ready for opening day on Friday at Del Mar.

The track will hold a 10-race program that drew a robust list of entries Tuesday, with 110 horses entered in the main fields and an additional 14 horses on also-eligible lists.

The program, which begins at 2 p.m. Pacific, is led by the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf, which drew a maximum field of 14. The Oceanside, one of four turf races Friday, drew the highest number of entries and is the eighth race.

Last summer, California trainer Leonard Powell began the Del Mar meeting with an upset win by Flashiest in the Oceanside Stakes.

By the end of that season in early September, Powell’s stable had five wins, which equaled his career best for a Del Mar summer, and record earnings of $360,744.

Expectations are high for greater success this summer when Del Mar opens on Friday.

“I hope it will be better than last year,” Powell said. “We always try to do better than last year.”

Home Brew, who had been considered for the Haskell Stakes on July 23 at Monmouth Park after winning the Pegasus Stakes there June 18, will bypass the Haskell in favor of a start Aug. 6 in the $500,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park, trainer Brad Cox said Tuesday.