LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Whit Beckman, a former longtime assistant to Chad Brown, has opened a public stable at Churchill Downs, where he grew up professionally, aspiring to make an impact in racing.

Beckman, 39, began his racing career in 2003, a few years after graduating high school in Louisville, by working as a stablehand for trainer Walt Bindner at Churchill. He eventually worked his way up the ranks in New York and elsewhere, spending 6 1/2 years working for Todd Pletcher prior to becoming a top lieutenant for Brown, the four-time champion trainer, in April 2016.

The Del Mar summer meeting ended at midday on Wednesday for jockey Drayden Van Dyke, nearly two days after the last race was run.

“I stayed a couple of extra days to hang out,” Van Dyke said.

It is easy to see why Van Dyke lingered in the vicinity of the San Diego County track. Aside from the beach scenery, the Del Mar meeting was Van Dyke’s first meet in California since the spring.

The New York Racing Association argued in a court filing on Thursday that trainer Linda Rice should not be granted a temporary injunction that would allow her to continue to train while she appeals a three-year suspension.

Fifteen jockeys have been suspended in West Virginia after submitting “falsified” physical examination documents in order to ride at Mountaineer Park, according to rulings and officials of the state’s racing commission.

Fourteen of the riders were given 15-day suspensions. Another rider, Eddie Jurado, was suspended 210 days for providing the other riders with the falsified documents, according to Joe Moore, the executive director of the West Virginia Racing Commission.

Santa Anita will run sprints at about 6 1/2 furlongs on its hillside turf course this fall for the first time since March 2019, the track announced Wednesday.

The course will be used for four stakes, including the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes on the Oct. 1 opening-day program, and for a limited number of allowance races.

Friday’s eight-race card at Monmouth Park is light on quality but heavy on horses racing after being claimed by trainer Douglas Nunn.

Nunn entered horses in four races – Tiz Herself in race 2, a nonwinners-of-two claiming sprint; Gleaming Sword in race 5, a $16,000 maiden claimer; Don’t Losemymoney in race 6, a first-level allowance with a $16,000 claiming option; and Curlin’s Thrill, a main-track-only entrant in race 7, a nonwinners-of-four conditioned claimer.

While Double Thunder won the $200,000 Sapling Stakes on Saturday, earning a 73 Beyer Speed Figure and a start next month in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, another 2-year-old at Monmouth caught the eye last weekend.

That was Affable Monarch, a colt bred to run long who stormed home from the back of the pack to win a maiden sprint, race 4 on Monday, by more than six lengths, going away. Affable Monarch got a modest Beyer of 60 but made a stronger visual impression and might better suit route racing than sprints.

When Runup travels 12 miles west by van from the Thoroughbred Training Center on the northeast side of Lexington, Ky., to Keeneland for the Alcibiades Stakes, it will seem like no travel at all to the 2-year-old filly.

Kj Desparado, the winner of the $3 All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs on Monday, may not be done for the season.

The Texas Classic Futurity at Lone Star Park, which has trials on Nov. 6 and a $1 million final on Nov. 27, is on the schedule for the Arizona-bred gelding, who recovered quickly from Monday’s 440-yard race.

“He’s very happy,” trainer Wes Giles said on Tuesday. “He acts like he’s ready to go again.”

Dr. J. David Richardson, a surgeon who bred and raced horses for nearly five decades while serving in various capacities in the Thoroughbred industry, died on Tuesday in a hospital in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., after being admitted with pneumonia following a COVID-19 diagnosis, according to associates. Richardson was 76.