HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Gulfstream Park turf course was open for training for the first time this winter and attracted a small but select group that included First Dude and 2009 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Tapitsfly.

First Dude, stepping foot on the turf for the first time in his career, worked five furlongs in 1:01.88 under jockey Kent Desormeaux. He was in turn followed by Tapitsfly, who breezed an easy and impressive looking six furlongs in 1:13.18. Tapitsfly has not started since winning the 2009 BC Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita.

Portland Meadows has cancelled live racing for both Monday and Tuesday due to freezing temperatures in the Portland area. Live racing is expected to resume on Wednesday, with a special post time of 12:20 p.m.

Portland Meadows will remain open for simulcast wagering on both Monday and Tuesday.

Arlington Park has named Howard Sudberry, a longtime Chicago television sportscaster, its senior director of marketing and communications.

Turfway Park concluded its December Holiday Meet Friday night with a gain in average ontrack daily handle but with a sharp drop in total wagering, according a release from the Florence, Ky., track.

Turfway ran for 17 days during the meet, four fewer than in 2009, and average ontrack handle rose 10.5 percent to $116,371. All-sources daily handle fell 15.1 percent to $2,372,697.

With four fewer days of racing at Turfway, totals were down from 2009 – 10.6 percent in ontrack handle and 31.3 percent for all-sources handle.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A new year means a new beginning. Not that Javier Castellano had a bad 2010; not at all. But the 33-year-old jockey would like for the infamous winner’s circle brawl at the Breeders’ Cup to get farther and farther in the proverbial rear-view mirror, and the passage of time is the best way for that to occur.

“I didn’t expect that to happen,” said Castellano. “All my life, I’ve gotten along with everyone. If I do something wrong, I apologize. Then I move forward.”

OLDSMAR , Fla. – Those who attended the races here at Tampa Bay Downs on Dec. 30 may well have seen a future star make his first step to prominence when Beamer scored in a maiden special weight route going a mile and 40 yards. Beamer, a Vindication colt from the Unbridled mare Untarnished, was making his second start, and he is trained by Carl Nafzger and owned by Jim Tafel, who teamed up to win the 2007 Tampa Bay Derby and Kentucky Derby with Street Sense.

Desert Gamble became a stakes winner on Sunday, when he got up in the final strides of the $100,000 Albert Dominguez Memorial at Sunland Park. He won by a neck after closing from next to last in the 1 1/16-mile  race for 4-year-olds and up bred in New Mexico.

Trainer Chris Englehart on Sunday ran his consecutive winning streak at Aqueduct to seven as Isn’t She Grand and Furhlang won back-to-back races on the card.

Englehart, who is now 9 for 11 at the meet, went 3 for 3 on Thursday at the Big A and won with one starter each on Friday and Saturday. With one win from two starters at Mountaineer factored in, Englehart has gone 8 for 9 since Thursday.

ARCADIA, Calif.-Unzip Me won 6 of 8 starts and $462,033 in 2010, a career-best season.

Already this year, she is ahead of that pace. Unzip Me won her 2011 debut in Sunday’s $100,000 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita. Last year, she did not win her first stakes until March, in her second start.

 OZONE PARK, N.Y. -  Breathoffreshheir’s speed trumped her immaturity as she scored a 3 3/4-length victory in Sunday’s $65,000 Ruthless Stakes at Aqueduct.

 Status Pending, the 8-5 favorite, rallied to get second by 1 1/4 lengths over Sweet Susan. Nashi and Flying Train completed the order of finish. Aba Dabbler was scratched.