Mountaineer Racetrack has rechristened one of its holiday stakes in honor of legendary trainer Dale Baird.

Baird, Thoroughbred racing's all-time leader with 9,445 victories, died in an automobile accident in December 2007. He was based at Mountaineer, and its predecessor, Waterford Park, from 1961 until his death and finished as the track's leading trainer for 20 consecutive years.

The Dale Baird Memorial Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong event worth $75,000, was formerly known as the Mountain State. It will be part of a stakes tripleheader July 4.

OLDSMAR, Fla. - There is an air of excitement on the backstretch these days as Musket Man prepares for the Kentucky Derby after having spent the winter at Tampa Bay Downs.

Musket Man arrived with the rest of the Derek Ryan stable in late November and trained here until heading north to win the Illinois Derby.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- Semaphore Man's love affair with Oaklawn Park generally, and the Count Fleet Handicap specifically, continued on Friday when the popular veteran gelding tenaciously held off a late run from Greeley's Conquest to capture the Grade 3, $150,000 Count Fleet for the second straight year before a crowd of 21,782.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - When it comes to 2-year-old racing at this time of the season, almost nobody does it better than trainer Wesley Ward.

Ward has dominated juvenile racing here at Gulfstream Park thus far this spring, not only winning all three baby races but finishing first and second in two of those events. Ward also won the first two 2-year-old races decided at the Keeneland meet before finishing second behind Steve Asmussen-trained juveniles on Thursday and Friday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mr. Sidney had never won a stakes, let alone a Grade 1 race. But that all changed Friday when he drove to victory in the 21st running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland.

Ridden with confidence by Kent Desormeaux, Mr. Sidney ($8.40) looped to the lead leaving the quarter pole before turning back a sustained bid from Passager to win by a half-length.

Eight prominent riders, including four Eclipse Award winners, will compete in the inaugural Jockey Challenge at Pimlico on May 15, the day before the Preakness Stakes.

The lineup is topped by two-time reigning Eclipse Award winner Garrett Gomez and Eclipse winners Kent Desormeaux, Edgar Prado, and John Velazquez.

In addition to Prado and Desormeaux, the roster includes two other riders with roots in Maryland racing - Mario Pino and Ramon Dominguez - plus young stars Rafael Bejarano and Julien Leparoux.

Charles Town Races and Slots in West Virginia has suspended its clerk of scales indefinitely and suspended seven jockeys for 30 days in a ruling contending that the clerk and jockeys failed to report riding weights accurately, according to reports confirmed by the head of the Jockeys' Guild.

The suspensions were handed down on Wednesday, approximately two weeks after the Charles Town stewards said they learned of the misreported weights through footage from surveillance cameras, according to the Jockeys' Guild's president Terry Meyocks.

Travis Dunkelberger, one of the top jockeys at Charles Town, will be sidelined indefinitely after sustaining a neck injury in a spill during training hours Wednesday.

Dunkelberger, 31, will be out three to six months with a possible fracture in his neck, according to his agent, Billy Kennedy. Kennedy said the injury occurred when a horse Dunkelberger was exercising for trainer Gary Capuano broke down.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Square Eddie, who has not raced since January because of a cannon bone injury, will start in the $300,000 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland next Saturday as a prep for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2.

Owner Paul Reddam and trainer Doug O'Neill had considered starting Square Eddie in the Kentucky Derby off a series of workouts in March and April but have opted to start the colt in the Grade 2 Lexington Stakes after a strong six-furlong breeze April 5 at Hollywood Park.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Fatal Bullet, Rahy's Attorney, and Ginger Brew had something in common last year as the finalists for Canada's Horse of the Year award.

But the three find now themselves in different situations, as Fatal Bullet is swimming in Ocala, Fla., Ginger Brew is in training at Palm Meadows in Florida, and Rahy's Attorney is gearing up here at Woodbine.