After contemplating expanding its racing schedule in 2010, Gulfstream Park officials opted to maintain the status quo for another year when they filed a final dates application with the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering earlier this week.

According to the track's president, Bill Murphy, Gulfstream will open its 2010 season on Jan. 3 and close on April 24, thereby avoiding any potential head-to-head conflict with nearby Calder Race Course. Gulfstream will again operate on a Wednesday-through-Sunday racing schedule.

Bill Troilo's goals as a jockey included riding in the Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup. He never achieved either, but those goals were secondary in the overall scheme of things.

"I found that with hard work and determination, I was able to carve out a good career," said Troilo.

On Thursday afternoon, closing day of the winter-spring meet at Turfway Park, Troilo will pull on the white jockey's pants for the last time. Troubled with a bum knee, Troilo, 48, is retiring after winning more than 2,500 races.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas is an intense and driven man with the kind of personality it took to lead North America in stable earnings a record 14 times between 1983 and 1997. But there is a softer side to him, too, and it has been more evident than ever this meet at Oaklawn.

Lukas said he is finally satisfied with his stable after spending the past several years rebuilding, and it shows. He is having fun in Hot Springs, and every time he wins a race here, Lukas selects a youngster from the crowd to join him in the winner's circle.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Feisty Suances is getting closer to a start in a Triple Crown race with each passing week.

On March 14, Feisty Suances finished second to heavy favorite Pioneerof the Nile in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, his first start in a graded stakes. Friday, owner Jed Cohen paid a $6,000 nomination fee to make Feisty Suances eligible for the Triple Crown.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park will move into the most significant - as well as the final - portion of its meet next Saturday when it opens the annual Racing Festival of the South stakes program with the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom and the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap.

The races are two of nine stakes worth a cumulative $2.8 million to be run over the final week of the meet, which closes on April 11 with the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Regardless of what happens during the final three weeks of Gulfstream Park's season, it has already been a great meet for Ken McPeek, who entered Saturday's program deadlocked with perennial champion Todd Pletcher for the top spot in the trainer standings with 25 wins each.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Justwhistledixie answered the distance question and cleared the final hurdle en route to Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Oaks on May 1 with a 1 3/4-length victory over Casanova Move in Friday's Grade 2, $200,000 Bonnie Miss at Gulfstream Park.

Justwhistledixie, the surprising 5-2 favorite in the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager, benefitted from a perfectly judged ride by jockey Julien Leparoux in the 1 1/8-mile Bonnie Miss. Leparoux replaced Justwhistledixie's regular rider, Alan Garcia, who is in Dubai.

Philadelphia Park has done very little tinkering with its stakes schedule for 2009.

The Bensalem, Pa., track has retained all 11 of its major open stakes at the exact purse levels from 2008. That list is headed by the Gradeo2, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Labor Day and the Grade 2, $750,000 Fitz Dixon Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies on Oct. 3.

The remaining nine stakes for open company are worth between $200,000 and $250,000.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The Wood Memorial lost its primary speed horse when the connections of Mr. Fantasy said they would bypass the Grade 1 race, to be run at Aqueduct next Saturday, adding that the 3-year-old colt would not be pointed to the Kentucky Derby.

A plane carrying 10 horses from Southern California for the two major stakes Sunday at Sunland Park arrived in El Paso, Texas, early Thursday morning. There were seven horses on the flight for the $800,000 Sunland Park Derby and three fillies for the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The races are part of a five-stakes card that will make for the richest program of the meet at the New Mexico track, located 10 minutes from El Paso.

The plane touched down at 8 a.m., said Heath Battles, marketing director for Sunland.