Perennial champions Russell Baze and Jerry Hollendorfer earned titles at the Golden Gate Fields fall meeting, which ended on Sunday.

Baze won his 39th riding championship at the track with 79 victories during the 42-day meet, including four on the final day. Chad Schvaneveldt finished second with 34 victories and Leslie Mawing third with 32.

Hollendorfer won his 37th training title with 39 winners, defeating Billy Morey, who had 30 victories to finish second, and third-place Steve Sherman, who had 26 wins.

Temple City, a California-based Grade 3 winner and runner-up in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup in his most recent start Nov. 13, has been retired from racing, trainer Carla Gaines said Monday. A 5-year-old by Dynaformer, Temple City will enter stallion duty at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky next spring.

Big Drama was among the first horses to breeze over the freshly renovated track on Monday at Calder, going an easy half-mile in 48.48 while completing his final quarter in 23.61 under exercise rider Madeline Sciametta, the wife of Todd Pletcher assistant Anthony Sciametta. Big Drama pulled up five furlongs in 1:00.91.

“He was just galloping,” trainer David Fawkes enthused. “It was a nice breeze. I was very, very happy.”

Too many sprinters, not enough stakes. That’s the issue – a pleasant enough one – confronting trainer Steve Margolis after the one-two finish of Due Date and Early Return in the Bonapaw Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Due Date ran especially well winning the Bonapaw, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint, by 2 1/2 lengths. Due Date performs far better on turf than any other surface, and his immediate target is pretty clear: the Feb. 19 Colonel Power Stakes, the next (and last) open turf-sprint stakes for older males on the Fair Grounds stakes schedule.

Tis the season of giving, and Fair Grounds, hosting a rare Wednesday card, has offered up to horseplayers its strongest weekday program so far this 2010-11 racing season. The 10-race card kicks off with an open maiden special weight, includes a fairly appealing Louisiana-bred turf starter allowance, a Louisiana-bred entry-level allowance, and, better still, an open second-level turf-sprint allowance. Even then, the stocking isn’t stuffed: Featured is race 7, a high-end turf-route allowance also open to $80,000 claimers.

MIAMI – Two of the top horses stabled on the grounds, the speedy 2-year-old Manicero and Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Big Drama, put in fast and very impressive works within five minutes of one another on a clear but chilly Monday morning at Calder.

Santa Anita opened its rain-deluged main track for training Monday for the first time since Friday, but track president George Haines said severe rainstorms expected through Wednesday could curtail training this week. The winter-spring meet opens Sunday.

Temporary cones were placed midway across the track to protect the inside of the surface Monday, and the track was open for jogging and galloping. There were three recorded works on the main track, which was listed as muddy.

The Grade 3, $1 million Charles Town Classic, the first graded stakes in the 77-year history of the Charles Town Races, heads a lineup of 29 stakes worth $3 million in 2011.

The West Virginia track released nearly all of its stakes schedule for next season on Monday, with the focus on four event-themed nights between April and October, culminating with the 25th running of the West Virginia Breeders’ Classic program. The Breeders’ Classic card is penciled in for Oct. 15, but the races and purses will not be announced until later.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Hollywood Park’s seven-week fall meeting ended on Sunday with a decline in average ontrack and all-sources mutuel handle, and ontrack attendance, according to figures released by the racetrack.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Gerald Bennett’s stable had a bit of an off meeting here at Tampa Bay Downs last season, but he wasted little time letting the competition and bettors know his barn will be a force this season as he sent out four winners through last Saturday’s program to take the early lead in the trainer standings.