Beginning with the opening of the Belmont Park spring meet on April 29, the New York Racing Association will reduce the minimum bet on pick fours to 50 cents. Currently, the minimum wager on a pick-four is $1.

NYRA offers two pick fours each card. On Saturdays, NYRA’s late pick four has a guaranteed pool of $250,000 at Aqueduct. Last spring, at Belmont, the guaranteed late pick-four pool on Saturdays was $300,000 and NYRA plans to offer the same guaranteed pool at this spring/summer meet, pending state approval.

New York will hold its first 2-year-old race of the year on Friday at Aqueduct, and handicappers will likely have to choose between a couple of Wesley Ward-trained runners in the 4 1/2-furlong dash.

Ward actually entered three in the race but Forever Noble, the lone filly in the field, will scratch to run in Maryland, Ward said. Ward will go with Lord Chelsie and Steve’s Adventures.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas’s powerhouse meet at Oaklawn Park continued on Wednesday, when he sent out two winners on the card including Tidal Pool in the inaugural running of the $100,000 Redbud.

When trainer Jim Hooper opted to run Inherit the Gold in the Grade 3 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct on April 2, he all but ruled out running the gelding back in the $1 million Charles Town Classic this Saturday. But as much as he may have wanted to give his New York-bred gelding a break, Inherit the Gold had other ideas.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Court intervention has kept the aptly named Court Vision in the field for the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile. Although he was expected to be scratched after the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission denied trainer Rick Dutrow a license, the commission has decided that Court Vision, the 8-5 morning-line favorite, will be permitted to run under the name of a new trainer, Justin Sallusto.

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Beaten Wood Memorial favorite Uncle Mo returned to the racetrack Wednesday, jogging once around a wet Belmont Park training track.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said the training session was routine for a first day back following a race.

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AUBURN, Wash. – Most of the familiar faces, human and equine, will be present Friday when Emerald Downs begins its 16th season.

Tim McCanna will send out five starters as he gears up to defend his training title.

Those directly behind McCanna in the 2010 standings – Vann Belvoir, Jim Penney, Frank Lucarelli, Doris Harwood and Howard Belvoir – combined to enter 15 horses for Friday’s eight-race card.

Gallyn Mitchell, Emerald’s all-time leading jockey in both wins (1,252) and career earnings ($12.7 million) has five mounts on opening night.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Rafael Bejarano rode Malibu Pier to a victory in the Grade 2 Santa Ana Stakes at Santa Anita last month but will ride the runner-up from that race, Turning Top, in Saturday’s $150,000 Santa Barbara Handicap.

Bejarano’s decision stunned Carla Gaines, who trains Malibu Pier for Spendthrift Farm.

“No one gives my horse any credit,” she said Wednesday. Regarding Bejarano, she said, “He’s pretty much my stable jockey.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It was minutes after Wilkinson finished a fast-closing second last October in his career debut in a maiden race at Keeneland, and trainer Neil Howard was upbeat despite the colt getting beat in a close photo.

“He’s a nice horse,” said Howard. “He’s classy, real smart. I think he’s got a future.”

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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – At this time last year, Qualia had won three of four career starts and looked poised to win a graded stakes race. Fast forward a year and Qualia has won just one more race and remains in search of that elusive stakes victory, something she will attempt to remedy in Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct.