The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders' Association will give away four scholarships during the Louisiana Champions Day program at Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Saturday. Each scholarship is worth $1,000.

The winners will be determined through a random drawing, and will be announced after the fifth race. There is a special early post of 12:10 p.m. Central on Saturday. Students can begin registering for the drawing at 11:40 a.m.

Champions Day is a program of 11 stakes for Louisiana-breds, with eight for Thoroughbreds and three for Quarter Horses.
 

Temecula Creek continued his remarkable rags-to-riches season by winning Tuesday’s $75,200 Valley Forge Stakes at Parx Racing.

Turf Paradise has reshuffled its live/simulcast schedule for the remainder of the meet, though the track will retain its 156 days of live racing.

What had been scheduled to be a live racing card on Wednesday, Dec. 22, has been changed to a simulcast-only day.

The live racing cards of Sunday Jan. 9, 16, and 23 become simulcast-only. The Wednesday simulcast cards of Jan. 12 and 26 have been changed to live racing programs.

The simulcast card of Wednesday, Feb. 9, will now be a live race day, while Wednesday, Feb. 23 will change from a live race card to simulcast only.

MIAMI – Trip for A. J. has won four stakes and posted Beyer Speed Figures in the mid- to high 90’s on four occasions during her career. But it was a race she didn’t win or Beyer in the 90’s, Saturday’s Grade 3 My Charmer Handicap, that was arguably the best race that Trip for A. J., a homebred daughter of Trippi, has ever run.

The great parades of Mardi Gras, like Rex and Zulu, find a new king and a queen every year. The king and queen of Louisiana Champions Day at Fair Grounds in New Orleans haven’t changed in several seasons, but could this be the year Star Guitar and Superior Storm lose their Champion Day crowns?

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Three optional claimers and three maiden races comprise the pick six races at Hollywood Park on Thursday that begins with a carryover of $95,807 from Sunday. Just getting past Thursday’s third race, an optional claimer for 2-year-old fillies over 5 1/2 furlongs, will be tricky enough for bettors.

The field of six features four fillies who have stakes experience this year, but the two who do not – Farallon and Teroda – will also attract support. Bellofthebridle has the best stakes form, with two placings here in the summer for trainer Walther Solis.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Secrets are often hard to keep at the racetrack. Case in point, Devilish Spirit, who after getting beaten 17 lengths for a restricted claiming price in her debut, returned off an 11-month layoff, stepped up to the New York-bred maiden special ranks and was sent off the 5-2 second choice in a seven-horse field.

Although he didn’t really seriously begin hanging around horses until two years ago, it’s no surprise that Kyle Frey became a jockey.

The 18-year-old apprentice is the grandson of Paul Frey, who ranked as one of the top jockeys in the Northwest and Northern California from the 1950s to the 1970s before becoming a valet. Kyle Frey’s father, Jay, has trained horses, exercises horses, and is currently a valet.

A horse doesn’t have to win races to earn cash, a fact exemplified by the 4-year-old colt Join in the Dance, a one-time winner with earnings approaching $400,000. Join in the Dance’s propensity for earning checks in rich stakes races has fattened his bankroll – but can he win the co-featured eighth race Thursday at Fair Grounds?

ARCADIA, Calif. – Overnight purses at the upcoming Santa Anita winter-spring meeting will rise by approximately 25 percent because of legislation passed earlier this year that raises the takeout on exotic wagers at California tracks.

The increases are more significant for horses competing in lower-claiming levels, and less so in higher-class races.