OCEANPORT, N.J. - The buzz building for the 50-day, $50 million meet at Monmouth Park turned into a thunderous roar as opening day exceeded all expectations.

Monmouth lured 17,903 fans on Saturday, blowing away last year's opening-day turnout of 10,292. And they brought their wallets. The combined handle from all sources was $9,357,444, trouncing last year's $4,279,438. It was the highest handle in Monmouth history other than Haskell Day or during the Breeders' Cup weekend in 2007.

By any standard, the day was a huge success.

Few 9-year-old racehorses are even still running, let alone capable of maintaining their peak form for an extended period of time. Yet the turf specialist Bon Marie has not only defied Father Time, but continues to win up and down the East Coast.

Bon Marie, who has put together a seven-race winning streak at five different tracks, goes for his eighth consecutive victory in Monday's ninth race at Delaware Park. He's part of a 14-horse field, including one also-eligible and another entered for the main track, in a 7 1/2-furlong turf race for $25,000 claimers.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Garrett Gomez was taken to a local hospital after being unseated at the start of the seventh race on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

Jadal stumbled out of the gate in the mile and 70-yard race, dumping Gomez who fell hard to the track and was clipped in the head by the riderless colt.

The ambulance team rushed to assist Gomez, who was laying in the shadow of the finish line. He was quickly removed onto a stretcher and taken to the track's medical station.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- General Quarters has joined the prospective cast for the June 12 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, with owner-trainer Tom McCarthy saying he needed to find a suitable stepping-stone for the 4-year-old colt toward the Aug. 21 Arlington Million.

General Quarters won the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on the May 1 Kentucky Derby undercard in his last start. McCarthy already has targeted the July 17 Arlington Handicap on the Arlington Park turf as a final prerace prep but said he needs to get a race into the colt before then.

MI Developments, the company that took over the racing assets of the bankrupt racetrack concern Magna Entertainment, has placed a Monday deadline for bidders interested in buying the Cleveland-area racetrack Thistledown, according to officials of the track. The sealed-bid auction will be held Tuesday

ALBANY, Calif. - Golden Gate Fields has canceled live racing for this Wednesday.

The track received approval from the California Horse Racing Board to cancel Wednesday racing after unsuccessfully attempting to draw both its Wednesday and Thursday cards on Friday. An eight-race Thursday card was drawn with 58 entrants, an average of 7.25 horses per race.

The cancellation means that Golden Gate will run five days this week instead of six. It will offer live racing Thursday through Monday's Memorial Day holiday. The track will be open for simulcast wagering on Wednesday.

The California Horse Racing Board passed a motion on Thursday stating that Oak Tree Racing Association holds racing dates for five weeks this fall, and can race at any Thoroughbred track in Southern California if a lease agreement with its longtime landlord Santa Anita Park is not reached.

Oak Tree, a not-for-profit company, was scheduled to race at Santa Anita from Sept. 29 to Oct. 31, but its lease with Magna International Developments, the owner of Santa Anita, was voided by Magna last week.

ARCADIA, Calif. -- The transitory label of "interim" Santa Anita president will be stabilized in the next six weeks, when the board of directors of MI Developments names George Haines the formal successor to Ron Charles, Haines said on Friday.

Charles resigned early this week as Santa Anita president, after which track owner MID named Haines interim president. Haines said Friday that his track-president role will be certified after procedural formalities are addressed by the MID board.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Mine That Bird pulled into the Churchill Downs stable gate Thursday evening and was soon bedded down in Barn 44, where four other Kentucky Derby winners have been stabled through the years with his new trainer, D. Wayne Lukas.

Lukas has signs posted at his stable entrance that list his Kentucky Oaks and Derby winners but joked that he won't be adding on the name of Mine That Bird, who won the 2009 Derby when trained by Chip Woolley.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - While the spotlight will be on the La Lorgnette Stakes here Sunday, there will be plenty of interest in an open first-level allowance run later on the program.

The field of nine for the 1 1/16-mile race includes Queen's Plate nominees Mobilizer, Artic Fern, and Who We Gunna Call and will serve as an important test on the road to the 1 1/4-mile Queen's Plate here July 4.

Mobilizer, trained by Roger Attfield, has attracted plenty of attention in his two starts.