LEXINGTON, Ky. – Cloudy’s Knight has been retired after an old injury flared up, ending a terrific racing career in which the 10-year-old gelding earned more than $2.5 million, was voted a champion in Canada, and barely missed winning a Breeders’ Cup event.

“We finally made the decision that the time has come,” said Jonathan Sheppard, the Hall of Fame trainer who scratched Cloudy’s Knight from Thursday’s Sycamore Stakes at Keeneland. “We tried to bring him back, but the leg flared up again. We went as far as we could with him.”

Espoir City, the Japanese standout who will run in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, arrived in Kentucky well before dawn Tuesday following a lengthy journey from Japan by way of Chicago and was placed under a 48-hour quarantine at Churchill Downs.

Espoir City has won 11 of 20 starts and earned nearly $6 million. The 5-year-old horse is by Gold Allure, a son of Sunday Silence. Trainer Akio Adachi and jockey Tetsuzo Sato will be assisted by an interpreter from the International Racing Bureau for the Breeders’ Cup.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Thursday’s third race at Hollywood Park will determine how ambitious owner Greg Unruh and trainer Mike Mitchell will be in coming weeks with Where’s the Remote.

Where’s the Remote, 4, will start favored in an allowance race over 1 1/4 miles on turf on Thursday evening. A win could lead to a start in the $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon over 1 3/4 miles on dirt at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5. A back-up plan is the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup over 1 1/2 miles on Nov. 13.

“We still have both races in our sights,” Mitchell said on Tuesday.

Ontrack business so far at the fall meet at Keeneland is up substantially while all-sources handle is virtually even with last year, according to figures released Tuesday by officials at the Lexington, Ky., track.

Through Sunday, and after eight of 17 programs, ontrack attendance was up 28 percent over corresponding 2009 fall dates, while ontrack handle was up 10 percent. The running totals to date were 124,870 in attendance and $11.6 million in handle, which includes imported simulcast wagering.

ELMONT, N.Y. – It may be sound counsel to avoid banking too heavily on the favorite in Thursday’s featured seventh race. The $56,000 optional claimer is scheduled for the inner turf course at 1 1/8 miles, and the eight entrants are a collective 2 for 14 as the post-time choice since last fall.

Five of those chalky defeats belong to Laureate Conductor, who looked to be on his way as a 3-year-old last summer after winning the Choice Stakes and running third in the Grade 1 Secretariat for Christophe Clement.

Wasted Tears could be heading to Southern California one more time before the year is out. The Texas-based Wasted Tears, who won the Grade 2 John C. Mabee at Del Mar in August, could run next in the Grade 1, $250,000 Matriarch at Hollywood Park on Nov. 26, said her trainer, Bart Evans.

“That’s a possibility, that’s what’s left for the year for us,” said Evans.

Wasted Tears is based at Retama Park and is due to return to the San Antonio-area track in the next week. She last raced on Oct. 9, and was fifth, beaten 1 1/4 lengths, in the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Richard’s Kid, the winner of the Pacific Classic and Goodwood Stakes in his last two starts, will not start in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6, and he will be sent to Dubai for racing this winter, trainer Bob Baffert said on Tuesday.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The milestones have arrived on an annual basis for Joel Rosario.

In 2006, he moved to the United States from his native Dominican Republic and made an early impression at Golden Gate Fields, finishing second to Russell Baze in two meets there. He moved to Southern California the following year, won his first graded stakes in 2008, and last year won three riding titles in Southern California and a Breeders’ Cup race, the Sprint, on the outsider Dancing in Silks.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Switching to a synthetic surface has led to a filly named Kitty in a Tizzy running considerably faster, and now her trainer, Jim Bond, is hoping for a peak performance Saturday in the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland.

MIAMI – Awesome Feather was unquestionably the star of the show on Saturday’s Festival of the Sun card, completing her sweep of the filly division of the Florida Stallion Stakes with another one-sided victory in the $350,000 My Dear Girl. In the process, she became the fourth and final Calder-based horse to earn a trip to Churchill Downs for the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 5-6.