HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There were only six horses in the nondescript field of conditioned-claiming fillies, and yet far more fans crowded around the picturesque walking ring than what might otherwise be expected. It was the first race on the first day of the 2011 meet at Gulfstream Park, and the anticipation was plainly tangible.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mountain Town, runner-up to Uncle Mo in the Grade 1 Champagne in his second career start, made a fast track look even faster Wednesday morning when working six furlongs in 1:11.52 shortly after the renovation break.

Going in company with Sr. Henry, an older allowance winner claimed for $75,000 last summer at Saratoga, Mountain Town posted splits of 23.22 seconds, 45.81, and 58.56 before edging about a length clear of his stablemate at the wire.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Hastings will run 41 stakes totaling more than $2.5 million in 2011. That represents a 23 percent increase from 2010 when $2.1 million was paid out in stakes purses. The additional money is in line with the overall purse increase for the 71-day meet that begins on April 16 and finishes Oct. 2. The additional purse money is the result of the provincial government’s increased allotment of slots revenue to racetracks.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Robert Landry, one of most successful and respected riders in Canadian racing, has retired after a 29-year career.

Landry, a 48-year-old native of Toronto, recorded 2,045 victories from 17,656 rides, and his mounts earned nearly $70 million. He captured the 2004 Queen’s Plate for Chiefswood Stable aboard Niigon and recently became the racing manager for Chiefswood.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Quisisana returns from a 10-month layoff in Friday’s $75,000 Kalookan Queen Handicap at Santa Anita and conditions are ideal for the 6-year-old mare.

The race is run over 6 1/2 furlongs, and Quisisana is unbeaten in six starts over six and 6 1/2 furlongs on main tracks in her 11-race career. All six of those victories came on a synthetic surface, and Friday’s race is run on Santa Anita’s new sand-and-clay track. But the new surface does not concern trainer Mike Puype.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Is eight enough? That will be the story Thursday if Who’s the Cowboy, who kicked off a magnificent seven straight winners for Chris Englehart last Thursday, comes back and wins again as the trainer’s only starter Wednesday.

Should Who’s the Cowboy prevail, that would give Englehart eight straight wins on the NYRA circuit, a feat accomplished four times during a stretch from 1973-83, but not since then.

When Machen whistled home a 5 1/2-length debut winner in Sunday’s ninth race at Fair Grounds, it put an exclamation point on a strongly declarative statement that trainer Neil Howard has made early in the 2010-2011 Fair Grounds meet. Neil Howard is back in business!

ALBANY, Calif. – Trainer Duane Offield was confident about two things going into last Saturday’s California Oaks.

He was sure Lilacs and Lace would appreciate the 1 1/16-mile distance and that by taking her blinkers off she’d conserve a little energy early.

He was right on both counts.

There was one thing he wasn’t quite as confident about: beating the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained Cathy’s Crunches, who had won all three of her starts at Golden Gate Fields, each in a stakes.

Siente El Trueno will break from post 7 in the featured eighth race Thursday at Fair Grounds, a cautionary tale named Walking the Beach standing in the gate just to his left.

Walking the Beach came into the 2009-2010 Fair Grounds meet regarded as a potential Louisiana Derby player after winning his career debut in impressive fashion at Churchill Downs. Walking the Beach has never run back to that first race, losing all seven of his subsequent starts while never finishing better than third.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Turbulent Descent, the unbeaten winner of three races, is scheduled to have her first workout in four weeks at Hollywood Park on Thursday, trainer Mike Puype said.

The expected half-mile workout will be Turbulent Descent’s first major exercise since she won the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet. Owned by a partnership, Turbulent Descent is being pointed to the $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes over a mile for 3-year-old fillies on Feb. 5.

Puype said that the recent wet weather in Southern California has interrupted Turbulent Descent’s training to an extent.