LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Commentator arrived Wednesday at Churchill Downs following an overnight van trip from New York and was on the racetrack the next morning to begin two weeks of local preparations for the annual fall-meet highlight, the Nov. 28 Clark Handicap.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - David Clark, a jockey based at Woodbine, was sentenced to house arrest for a period of two years less a day in a Newmarket, Ontario courtroom on Thursday.

Clark, 55, had pleaded guilty in April to charges of impaired driving causing death and impaired driving causing bodily harm.

The charges stemmed from an accident on May 16, 2006, in which Clark's vehicle struck one traveling in the opposite direction. The passenger in the other vehicle, a 34-year-old woman, was killed.

MIAMI – Seeing entries from the barns of trainers Christophe Clement and Jonathan Sheppard in Saturday’s $55,000 Copana Stakes at Calder can mean only one thing. Winter cannot be far behind.

Clement has been a dominant force throughout the decade in turf stakes during the Tropical at Calder session. He will send out likely favorite All Is Vanity in the 7 1/2-furlong Copano, while Sheppard pins his hopes on likely outsider Just Hoping in the filly and mare overnight event on turf, which lured 14 including two also-eligibles.

MIAMI - A purse cut from $500,000 to $400,000 along with the imposing presence of Commentator may have some trainers thinking twice about running a horse in the Grade 2 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 28. But not Pete Anderson.

Anderson is in the process of making plans to ship Delightful Kiss, fresh off a fourth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Marathon at Santa Anita, to Kentucky for the Clark.

NEW ORLEANS - Steve Klesaris was an underbidder on Stardom Bound - who soon will be named champion 2-year-old filly - when she was auctioned off last March in Florida. But even without the one that got away, Klesaris is loaded with high-quality 2-year-old females, several of whom will make their winter home at Fair Grounds.

NEW ORLEANS - There will be more than one opening at Fair Grounds on Friday. Not only will the track begin its 137th racing season but a grand opening will be held for the new permanent slots parlor on the grounds.

With more than 600 machines now housed in the 30,000-square-foot annex to the grandstand, Fair Grounds has more than doubled the number of slot machines on the premises. The added numbers should result in an increase in slot revenue, and with it, augmentation of the purses for the racing season.

Trainer Heath Taylor's roller-coaster year could reach another peak in the trials to the Grade 1, $1.1 million Texas Classic Futurity and the Grade 1, $380,000 Texas Classic Derby this weekend at Lone Star Park.

The Texas Classic Derby trials are on Friday night and the Texas Classic Futurity trials are Saturday night.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Patrick Biancone, who returned to training last week after serving a one-year suspension for the presence of the banned painkiller cobra venom in his Kentucky barn, said Wednesday that he is taking his time forming a stable. Biancone has been granted a trainers license by the California Horse Racing Board.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When trainer Scott Lake decided to ship out of New York 20 months ago, he had no intentions of coming back. But then Lake received an offer he felt he couldn't refuse.

When Aqueduct's inner-track meet opens on Dec. 3, Lake will have approximately 25 horses stabled in New York, the majority for owner Mike Repole. Repole, one of the founders of the company that makes Vitaminwater, is the fourth-leading owner in the country in wins (113) and the second-leading owner on this circuit with 32 wins.

Bob Pollock will be leaving his position as general manager of Retama Park when the San Antonio-area track closes out its meet Saturday night. He is moving to Dallas to be closer to his family after spending 14 years at Retama.

“I’m going to miss it a lot,” he said.

Pollock, 67, was a steward at the track during its first two seasons in 1995 and 1996 and then moved into management. Bryan Brown, the chief executive officer at Retama, said there are no plans to name a new general manager. He said Pollock’s duties would be delegated to other staff members at Retama.