LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sunday marks not only the end of the 42-day spring meet at Churchill Downs, but an era of a far longer duration.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. − Gayego, a multiple stakes winner who holds the track record for 6 1/2 furlongs at Hollywood Park, will make his 2010 North American debut in the $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap here July 10.

Rick Mettee, the New York-based assistant to Saeed bin Suroor of Godolphin Racing, said Gayego is ready for his first start since running in March in the Middle East.

"He's done really well," Mettee said. "He's done a couple of really good pieces of work. It looks like a good spot out there [in California]."

More than 100 horsemen attended a meeting at Lone Star Park on Thursday to listen to the management of the state's three major tracks outline a proposal to consolidate Thoroughbred dates in Texas for 2011 in the face of declining handle.

Jockey Tad Leggett suffered a cervical, or upper, spine injury and fractured a vertebra Wednesday night in a spill at Fair Meadows in Tulsa and was scheduled to undergo surgery Friday afternoon in Oklahoma, said his agent, Cynthia Smith.

Leggett, 45, was injured in the third race, when he was thrown from his mount after the wire and the horse subsequently fell on him. Smith said one of Leggett's vertebra popped out during the accident, then went back into place. His surgery was to address the resulting ruptured tissue.

Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of Allen Jerkens's first victory as a trainer. It came with the horse Populace in a claiming race at Aqueduct.

"He was a big bay horse.," Jerkens recalled Friday morning at Belmont. "I claimed him from Main Chance Farm, Elizabeth Arden had that outfit. I don't know if he won any more races or not."

Jerkens said he believed he claimed the horse for $5,000 and he won for a tag of $6,500 or $7,000.

"In those days, the highest price was $12,000,'' Jerkens said.

Rightly So, beaten one-half length by Hour Glass in the Grade 2 Vagrancy Handicap last out, tries again for her first graded stakes score when she meets seven fillies and mares entered in Monday's Grade 3, $150,000 Bed o' Roses Handicap.

Rightly So, a New York-bred daughter of Read the Footnotes, was 5 for 8 against New York-breds before running a game race in the Vagrancy, in which she dueled through hot fractions before giving way grudgingly to Hour Glass.

"I thought it was a great effort,'' trainer Tony Dutrow said.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The purse structure for open company races for the upcoming Saratoga meet will mirror that of last year, while those for New York-breds will be slightly less than 2009, New York Racing Association officials said this week. The 40-day Saratoga meet opens July 23.

While the purses for New York-bred races will be down from last year's Saratoga meet, they will be up $4,000 when compared with the current Belmont spring/summer meet. A maiden New York-bred race that was $44,000 last year - and $36,000 at Belmont - will be $40,000 this summer at the Spa.

Hotep, who is by A.P. Indy out of the Smart Strike mare Eye of the Sphynx, is a full brother to Eye of the Leopard, who is winless in four starts since the Plate. Owned by Sam-Son Farm, Eye of the Leopard now is with trainer Neil Howard at Churchill Downs.

In his first start for Howard, Eye of the Leopard finished sixth at Churchill Downs in the Kelly's Landing Stakes over seven furlongs on June 25.

The connections of Mr. Foricos Two U, who was beaten a neck as the runner-up to Eye of the Leopard in last year's Queen's Plate, are back this year with the maiden Vicar Street.

Rocco d'Alimonte, who owns Vicar Street in partnership with Frank Annechinni, likes his chances based on the horse's previous encounters with the likes of Mobilizer and Queen's Plate favorite Hotep. Trainer Catherine Day Phillips does not disagree.

"I think he has a big, long, long stride," said Day Phillips. "He'll gallop forever."

No fewer than four of the 13 Queen's Plate entrants will be making equipment changes.

Mobilizer, Giant's Tomb, and Who We Gunna Call will be adding blinkers, while Ghost Fleet will be racing without blinkers after racing with them in his two previous starts this year.

Trained by Roger Attfield, Mobilizer will be one of the favorites in the Queen's Plate after finishing second, beaten a half-length, under his regular rider Jono Jones in the Plate Trial. Attfield equipped Mobilizer with blinkers for his major Queen's Plate prep here June 25.