DEL MAR, Calif. – In his 15-year career, trainer Chad Brown has trained seven fillies and mares honored with the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding turf female.

There may be an eighth in the near future.

Regal Glory’s win in Sunday’s Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar was her third win in a race at the highest level this year and puts the now-retired 6-year-old firmly at the front of discussions regarding the 2022 turf female championship.

From Brown’s perspective, she’s done that and more.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – When Honor Tori ran off the screen to an eye-catching 17 1/4-length victory to win her maiden at second asking in Sunday’s second race it capped a huge weekend for trainer Michael Yates, who had won a pair of races the previous afternoon, including the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs with Dorth Vader.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On and off the track, jockey Katie Davis enjoyed a pretty nice week.

On track, Davis won two races as she attempts a comeback after being away 16 months preparing for and following the birth of her first child. On Dec. 1, Davis won a maiden $75,000 claiming race aboard Narciso Dali for trainer Amira Chichakly. On Dec. 3, Davis won a $16,000 claimer on Diva Banker for trainer Ray Handal.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Ray Handal is enjoying a productive fall meet at Aqueduct, something he hopes is a harbinger for the winter when he will have strings in both New York and South Florida.

Through the first 18 days of the 29-day Aqueduct fall meeting, Handal has nine wins from 28 starters, tying him for second in wins with Todd Pletcher, both five behind Chad Brown. Handal has won with claimers, allowance types, and on Nov. 27 he captured the Tepin Stakes with the promising 2-year-old turf filly Sweetlou’sgotaces, who entered the race as a maiden.

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., long has lured horses from a large swath of jurisdictions and that again will be the case for the meet that gets under way Friday. The nine-race opener has drawn runners who last raced in New York, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Louisiana, Ohio, Delaware, New Mexico, and even Chile.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Julia Shining, narrow winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes, left for South Florida on Monday morning and will take residence at trainer Todd Pletcher’s Palm Beach Downs base.

Pletcher indicated to the New York Racing Association press department that Julia Shining could make her 3-year-old debut in the Suncoast Stakes on Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs. Though the race is only a mile and 40 yards, it would keep her racing around two turns. It is the same race Pletcher used with Nest to kick off her 3-year-old campaign in 2021.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Following her career-best performance winning Saturday’s Grade 3 Go for Wand Stakes in the slop at Aqueduct, Dr B will likely target the Grade 3, $250,000 Barbara Fritchie Stakes on Feb. 18 at Laurel Park, trainer Butch Reid said Sunday.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Speaking Scout, the winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, will be based at Santa Anita in coming weeks and could make his next start at that track’s winter-spring meeting, which begins on Dec. 26.

Considering the way Speaking Scout has been campaigned this year, any venue with a turf course could be on the gelding’s agenda.

Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux has been reinstated to ride at Santa Anita and other tracks owned by 1/ST Racing, the company said in a brief statement released Friday.

Desormeaux, 52, resumed riding at Del Mar last month after serving a 60-day suspension issued by the California Horse Racing Board earlier this year regarding an altercation in 2021 at an RV park at Del Mar. 

Desormeaux was banned from riding at tracks owned by 1/ST Racing following his arrest in his home state of Louisiana in January on charges of domestic abuse and battery.

Trainer Richard Baltas was suspended one year and fined $10,000 by a panel of three California stewards on Friday for violations related to the administration of raceday supplements at Santa Anita in April and May.

Baltas indicated Friday that he plans to appeal.

“I’m terribly disappointed,” Baltas said in a brief phone conversation. “We are going to appeal. The decision is the decision.”

The penalty takes effect Dec. 9 and continues through Dec. 8, 2023.