ARCADIA, Calif. – The trips to Kentucky racetracks during his years at the University of Indiana gave Chip Martin an introduction to horse racing in the early 1990s. If the atmosphere at Churchill Downs was not enough of a hook, there was always the camaraderie with friends.

When Martin, now 39, relocated to California and had professional success, he found himself in the same sporting circle as some members of the Southern California racing community through a golf club membership. Once again, he was lured to the game, this time as an owner.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Albergatti will make his stakes debut in the $250,000 San Felipe Stakes over 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita next Saturday, a key prep to the $1 million Santa Anita Derby next month.

For Albergatti, who is trained by Steve Asmussen for Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stable and Natrona Racing, the Grade 2 San Felipe will be the gray colt’s first start around two turns and first start against winners.

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Bill Murphy has been hired as executive director and Mike Mullaney as general manager of Yavapai Downs in Arizona, according to a release from the track. Yavapai opens May 28 and runs through Sept. 6.

Murphy, who has been general manager at both Gulfstream Park and Thistledown, is president of the Cleveland-based consultancy Continuing Improvement Solutions, which specializes in racetrack management.

Mullaney worked with Murphy at Gulfstream Park as media relations director, and formerly was the national features editor at Daily Racing Form .

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. –Trainer Nick Zito always says “you’ve got to play the cards that are dealt you” when it comes to the Kentucky Derby – even if the cards say the best play would be the unorthodox one of running his top Derby prospect Dialed In against older horses in Sunday’s fourth race at Gulfstream Park.

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ARCADIA, Calif. – At 5, Misremembered is a different horse this year than he was last year when he won the Santa Anita Handicap, jockey Martin Garcia says.

Garcia rode Misremembered in the 2010 Santa Anita Handicap, and has worked the horse regularly in recent weeks. Garcia insists that Misremembered is a more mature horse this season, and easier to work with in the mornings.

Penn National Race Course has created a second marquee event as part of a track-record $1.97 million stakes package that was announced Friday for the 2011 season.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct was operating as normal Friday, one day after a severed cable forced the track to cancel its live racing program and simulcast operations.

After winning the Charles Town Classic for the second straight year last April, Researcher was sent to begin a second career as a steeplechaser by his new owners, Zohar Ben-Dov’s Kinross Corporation.

In an unusual change of plans, the 7-year-old Researcher is being brought back to flat racing in a bid to capture the $1 million Charles Town Classic for a third time on April 16.

Saturday’s ontrack audience for the 11-race program featuring the Santa Anita Handicap is expected to surpass last year’s figure of 24,201, and track president George Haines said on Thursday that number could be significantly higher.

“I think we’ll be in the mid-20,000 or upper 20,000s,” Haines said. “But I’m naturally conservative. I’d like to see more. We’re looking good with the weather.”