ELMONT, N.Y. – Linda Rice was proud of the fact that she was able to share the Aqueduct spring trainer’s title without winning a single turf race. The move to Belmont Park usually means more turf racing, especially more turf sprints, the type of races Rice has shown an affinity at winning.

CINCINNATI – River Downs will begin what was supposed to be a 93-day meet Friday. The track was scheduled to open April 29, but that was before the rains came and the Ohio River flooded the racing surface, causing the 400-plus horses on the grounds at the time to be evacuated to nearby Turfway Park and to Beulah Park in Columbus. Horses were evacuated April 22 and were able to return April 29, the scheduled opening day, although the track was not opened for training until Tuesday.

Tony Richey is a busy man these days. So busy, in fact, that he finds himself atop the trainer standings at both Evangeline Downs and, 200 miles to the north, Louisiana Downs.

Through the first five weeks of the Evangeline meeting, Richey has had 13 winners to lead Karl Broberg by a single victory. During opening weekend of this year’s Louisiana Downs meeting, he sent out three winners and also holds a slim one-victory advantage.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The evening updates were getting old.

In recent summers, when jockey Garrett Gomez was somewhere in the Eastern time zone, typically in Kentucky, New Jersey, or New York, he often spoke at night to his wife and children back in California, getting caught up with the developments of their lives.

He was a working father, but an absent father, and it was not satisfying.

“I was missing a lot over the years,” Gomez said last weekend.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Night racing has become a phenomenon at Churchill Downs, where thousands of 20-somethings help ontrack attendance skyrocket when the lights are turned on. Churchill will host three night cards later in the meet (June 17, 24, July 1), but until then, a mini-version of the ultra-hip night themes will be tried out for the next five Fridays.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Cherokee Notion figures to be a solid favorite in a first-level allowance race that will serve as Friday’s feature race at Hastings. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up drew seven horses and goes as race 7 on the eight-race card that begins at 7p.m.

British Columbia-breds with two wins are eligible for the first-level conditions, and one of Cherokee Notion’s wins came in the B.C. Cup Stellar’s Jay last year.

AUBURN, Wash. – Chaching Pete and Passion Lives Here, who finished a neck apart when making their season debuts April 30, are scheduled to meet again Friday in the feature race at Emerald Downs. A six-furlong, $12,500 claiming race for older horses who have never won three times, it’s the seventh race on an eight-race program beginning at 6 p.m. Pacific.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The 2-year-old campaign of War Pilot was cut short by necessity last fall.

“He needed time to catch up,” trainer Mike Pender said. “He has had some minor hiccups along the way, but mostly it was to allow his mind to catch up to his frame.”

Six months after winning a maiden race on turf, War Pilot makes his 3-year-old debut in a $52,000 allowance race over six furlongs on turf at Hollywood Park on Friday evening. Pender has noticed mental changes in recent months, including a quick five-furlong workout on turf in 59.80 seconds last Sunday.

Jockey Ramsey Zimmerman was arrested in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday morning and charged with four felonies, including possession and intent to deliver crack cocaine and heroin. Police discovered Zimmerman in an unresponsive state while operating a motor vehicle. Zimmerman, 29, is being held in the Polk County, Iowa, Jail.

According to his agent, Kenny Washburn, Zimmerman was supposed to visit family in Chicago on Sunday and return to work Monday morning.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mike DePaulo will have a busy afternoon at Woodbine on Friday when he will saddle three runners, including stakes winner Pender Harbour.