Louisiana Downs will move first post to 4:15 p.m. Central on Saturday and Sunday due to a forecast for extreme heat.

The high for Saturday in the Bossier City, La., area is projected to be 102 degrees, according to AccuWeather.  

Louisiana Downs normally has a first post of 1:45 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. First post for Monday and Tuesday will remain 3:05 p.m., according to the announcement from the track.  

Over the last week, other tracks have adjusted post times due the heat wave hitting the middle part of the country.  

Deshawn Parker became the 21st jockey to reach 6,000 career wins when he piloted For Mama to victory in the seventh race June 21 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Parker had only three mounts on the card and won the third race on Wicked Intent to hit 5,999 winners. 

Parker, 51, began his jockey career in 1988 after growing up around racing through his father, Daryl, who held various positions around the track, including clerk of scales. Daryl Parker passed away in 2021, and Parker said he was riding Tuesday night in memory of his father. 

ELMONT, N.Y. - Echo Zulu, the 2021 2-year-old filly champion who was scratched from the Grade 1 Acorn just minutes before the start of the race, is back at Churchill Downs with trainer Steve Asmussen.

According to David Fiske, racing manager for owner Ron Winchell, Echo Zulu may have “a little strain in a suspensory left front,” he said.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Radio Days was among the 3-year-old fillies nominated to the Mother Goose at Belmont Park on Saturday who were not entered in the race. Trainer Shug McGaughey said he is pointing Radio Days to the $100,000 Boiling Springs Stakes at Monmouth Park on July 3.

Previously run on the turf, the Boiling Springs this year will be run on dirt at a mile and 70 yards.

“I want to keep her around two turns and try to win a stakes with her,” McGaughey said.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The glut of stakes for 3-year-old fillies has had a negative impact on New York.

Two weeks ago, the Grade 1 Acorn drew a field of five, but ultimately went with four after the late scratch of race favorite Echo Zulu due to a lameness issue. Wednesday, when entries were taken for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Mother Goose at Belmont Park, the race drew only five led by the Grade 1 winner Juju’s Map.

A few hours after he secured the riding title at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Sunday, jockey Juan Hernandez was on a flight to Mexico City.

It was time for a five-day vacation to visit family.

Hernandez finished the 76-day Santa Anita meeting with 104 wins, well clear of second-place Flavien Prat with 73, and Tyler Baze, who was third with 54.

Jockey David Cabrera is scheduled to return to race riding towards the end of July at Prairie Meadows, his agent, Jose Santos Jr., said Tuesday.

Cabrera has been sidelined since April 8, when he sustained injuries to his back and face when thrown from a mount in a race at Oaklawn.

Cabrera went home to Oklahoma to recuperate and is scheduled to ride the upcoming meet at his home track of Remington Park, where he is a multiple title winner. The season starts in August.

Jockey Cindy Murphy sustained pelvic and rib injuries in a Sunday incident at Prairie Meadows and remained in an Iowa hospital on Wednesday, according to her husband, trainer Travis Murphy. Cindy Murphy, 60, was unseated by a 2-year-old first-time starter prior to the start of the sixth race Sunday.

“It was their turn to load in the gate and the filly just got scared from a horse rattling in the gate,” said Travis Murphy. “She ran backwards and lost her footing and fell over, fell into Cindy’s lap.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The big mare is coming back!

Ce Ce, who shipped cross-country to South Florida to capture the 2021 Princess Rooney as a prelude to her victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint four months later, will in all likelihood make the same trip to Gulfstream Park to defend that title here July 2, her trainer, Michael McCarthy, confirmed earlier this week.

Prominent California trainer Richard Baltas has been ordered to appear at a hearing with Los Alamitos stewards on July 1 regarding allegations that he administered unpermitted substances to 23 horses on race days at Santa Anita between April 15 and May 8.

The California Horse Racing Board published a complaint Tuesday, stating video surveillance of Baltas’s stable showed substances being administered by the trainer’s employees.