Hawthorne Race Course received permission from the Illinois Racing Board on Tuesday to reduce the purse of the Grade 3 Illinois Derby from $500,000 to $250,000. The racing board also approved Hawthorne’s request to postpone the Grade 3, $200,000 Sixty Sails until sometime during the track’s fall meet, and to eliminate four Sundays from the Hawthorne race dates the board had approved last fall.

The Jockeys’ Guild and the Washington Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association have reached an agreement that will raise losing mount fees by $10 each. Under the accord, losing mount fees at Emerald Downs this year will now range from $55 to $115, instead of $45 to $105. . . .

It’s possible the one-two finishers from Saturday’s Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes for 3-year-olds won’t be back to contest the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds, but Lecomte last-place finisher Justin Phillip has been lightly penciled in for the race despite a disappointing performance Saturday.

Wilkinson won the Lecomte by a head over Pants On Fire, who set a slow pace (48.94 seconds to the half-mile) on a moderate-to-quick playing surface but could not hold the winner. Wilkinson’s one mile, 40-yard time produced a Beyer speed figure of 77.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – With a last name like Baze, it would seem safe to assume that Michael Baze was always headed toward a career as a jockey. But that was not necessarily the case for the rider whose second cousin, Russell Baze, is the all-time winningest jockey in North America; whose first cousin, Tyler Baze, is a mainstay in Southern California; and whose uncle and aunt, Gary and Vicky Baze, are veteran riders.

“I might have been the only one not to grow up around horses,” said Michael Baze, 23. “My best friend and I were going to be Marines.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Ramon Dominguez appears poised for a big afternoon Thursday as he rides contenders in every race, including six morning-line favorites.

One of the favorites he doesn’t ride is Hot Danger, the 2-1 choice over six rivals in race 8, a $41,000 first-level allowance for 3-year-old New York-bred fillies at a mile and 70 yards.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Yankee Passion will launch what could be a very productive 3-year-old season in Thursday’s eighth race at Oaklawn Park.

“We’re pretty high on him,” said his trainer, Larry Jones.

Yankee Passion heads a field of eight 3-year-olds in the $50,000 optional claiming sprint that carries first-level allowance conditions. Others in the six-furlong race include Philippe, a half-brother to Grade 2 winner T.D. Vance, and Mastman, a romping winner against Illinois-bred maidens at Hawthorne for trainer Jamie Ness.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Thursday is comeback day for Mythical Power and Game On Dude, stakes winners for trainer Bob Baffert in 2010.

Mythical Power won the Grade 3 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park last April, but lost his next four starts, including a second to Quality Road in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga.

Thursday, Mythical Power starts in an optional claimer over seven furlongs, the day’s fourth race.

ARCADIA, Calif. – In the winter of 2003-04, Southern Image was California’s dominant older horse. Through the campaign, trainer Mike Machowsky mixed and matched historic races at Santa Anita, such as the Malibu Stakes and Santa Anita Handicap, with new races, notably the Sunshine Millions Classic, to guide Southern Image to a career-defining five-race winning streak.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Gulfstream Park turf course will play host to a pair of allowance races on Thursday. The best and easily most appealing of the pair goes as the fourth race, a five-furlong dash to be decided under second-level optional claiming conditions.

Deciding upon a favorite let alone picking the winner will be a chore for the best of handicappers, who are faced with a 10-horse field, a handful of whom have already had a race over the course this meet.

Trainer Steve Specht hauled Antares World and Lady Railrider to Santa Anita on Monday to run in Saturday’s Sunshine Millions Distaff, a $300,000 race at 1 1/16 miles. Both wound up preparations for the race last Thursday with one-mile drills at Golden Gate. The 4-year-old Antares World covered the mile in 1:44.20 and the 6-year-old Lady Railrider in 1:44.60.