HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - These are tough economic times, but you would not know it looking around Oaklawn Park.

The track has a new face as part of an ongoing $30 million construction project that began after the meet closed a year ago. Purses are budgeted at a record $300,000 a day. And the 3-year-olds Old Fashioned, one of the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby, and Rachel Alexandra, a leading candidate for the Kentucky Oaks, are both being pointed for stakes in February.

Consequently, optimism is high as Oaklawn opens for 54 days of racing on Friday.

A horse at Fair Grounds in New Orleans who initially tested positive for the non-neurological strain of equine herpesvirus did not test positive for the disease in a blood test that was returned to state veterinary officials on Tuesday, according to the equine medical director of the Louisiana State Racing Commission.

Louisiana regulatory and animal-health officials lifted a quarantine on a barn at Fair Ground racetrack on Thursday after tests from all 66 horses in the barn were negative for equine herpesvirus, track officials said.

The quarantine was placed on the barn on Dec. 26 after a horse trained by Dallas Stewart that had previously been in the barn tested positive for the virus, which attacks a horse's neurological system. The horse had first displayed symptoms of the virus on Dec. 23, and was shipped off the track's grounds the next day.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Away from racing for more than four months, Ginger Pop ran the best race of her career to finish second at 47-1 in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 27.

The performance may have shocked bettors, but not trainer Dan Hendricks.

"People kind of forgot about her," Hendricks said. "We weren't surprised by the result."

No one will be surprised if Ginger Pop runs well in Sunday's $150,000 El Encino Stakes for 4-year-old fillies over 1 1/16 miles.

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Medaglia d'Onore takes the first step on what his connections hope will be the road to the classics Saturday when he makes his 3-year-old debut while topping a field of seven in the $65,000 Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

The other stakes on the card is the $65,000 Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Both the Pasco and the Gasparilla will be run at seven furlongs.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The Sunshine Millions Classic lost another key player this week when trainer Benny Stutts Jr. opted not to pre-enter his multiple graded stakes winner Smooth Air on Wednesday for the Jan. 24 race.

Smooth Air, who was given time off following his seventh-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic, had been pointing for the $1 million Classic but suffered a mild setback, which forced him to miss a work. And that was enough for Stutts to seek an alternate plan.

Suave Jazz hasn't won since 2007, but the 6-year-old trained by Tony Dutrow is still perhaps the most accomplished horse in Saturday's $50,000 Fire Plug Stakes at Laurel Park.

Seven older sprinters will line up in the six-furlong race for 4-year-olds and up.

Suave Jazz has 11 career victories - 10 of them at six furlongs. He was also a neck second in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Handicap at Pimlico last May. Suave Jazz's last victory came in the Vincent Moscarelli Memorial at Delaware Park in November 2007.

With the the wind-chill temperature again expected to plunge well below zero, Turfway Park has canceled live racing for Friday, Jan. 16. The track planned to remain open for simulcasting, with gates opening at 11:15 a.m.

PHOENIX - He's never routed, he's never run at Turf Paradise, and he's facing some tough local opposition, but Majestic Diamond's class may carry him through as he invades Saturday for the $75,000 Cotton Fitzsimmons Handicap. The mile turf event for 4-year-olds and upward lured a field of nine and is the marquee event on a program that also features the $50,000 Glendale Handicap. The Fitzsimmons goes as race 8 on a nine-race card; the Glendale is race 3.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - With a forecast that calls for wind chills near or below zero, New York Racing Association officials have canceled Friday's Aqueduct card.

Aqueduct will be open Friday for simulcasting. Admission and parking will be free.

Racing will resume Saturday with a nine-race card that includes the $65,000 Evening Attire Stakes.

Friday's cancellation will be the first of inner track meet, which began on Dec. 3.