ARCADIA, Calif. - The first stage of jockey Garrett Gomez's yearlong nationwide tour comes to end on April 3 when he moves from his winter base at Santa Anita to Keeneland for a month.

When he leaves California, Gomez is likely to be the leading rider at Santa Anita, a position he may hold only temporarily. Through Thursday, Gomez was second, trailing Rafael Bejarano 60-56, but he is likely to catch Bejarano since that rider is sidelined with a back injury until early April. The Santa Anita meeting ends on April 20.

The Hastings Conservancy, a citizens' group in British Columbia, has lost a court appeal it hoped would force the removal of slot machines at Hastings. The British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed the group's appeal of the provincial Supreme Court decision that allowed slots at Hastings.

The Conservancy lost its original suit, in which it claimed the city of Vancouver did not have the jurisdiction to pass zoning bylaws that allowed slots at Hastings. Thursday, a three-member panel upheld the Supreme Court ruling.

Gary Contessa broke his own record for wins by a trainer at an Aqueduct inner-track meet when he saddled three of the first four winners on Friday, giving him 73 for the winter session. In 2006-07, Contessa established the previous mark with 72 wins.

Contessa went on to win another race on Friday's card, marking the second time in three weeks that a trainer has won four races on an Aqueduct card. Bruce Levine won four on Feb. 29.

Contessa credited his owners, specifically Steve Sigler's Winning Move Stable.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Michael Matz has decided against following the same path that led Barbaro to his Kentucky Derby victory two years ago with his current Derby hopeful Visionaire.

Matz said Friday that Visionaire will not have his final Kentucky Derby prep in the $1 million Florida Derby on March 29, and that he's narrowed his choice to the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne on April 5 or the Blue Grass at Keeneland one week later. Barbaro won the 2006 Florida Derby as a final stepping-stone to his memorable victory five weeks later at Churchill Downs.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Charmo's success has never truly equaled his potential. After winning the first stakes of his career in the Grade 2 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields in 2006, Charmo has compiled a five-race losing streak.

Charmo resumes his career after a layoff of nearly 10 months in Saturday's $75,000 Joe Hernandez Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita. Trainer Julio Canani is hopeful that the race, run over about 6 1/2 furlongs on turf, will end Charmo's losing streak and lead to a return to the San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields next month.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - It may only have been a second-level allowance race on a Thursday at Aqueduct, but Marina Market's victory felt like something else to trainer Gary Sciacca.

"Like winning the [Kentucky] Derby," Sciacca said after Marina Market's neck victory over No Reply in the $53,000 race. "What a great feeling. Brought tears to my eyes. Couldn't happen any better."

ARCADIA, Calif. - A majority of trainers based at Santa Anita want to race and train their stables on a synthetic surface, according to a survey conducted recently by the California Thoroughbred Trainers. The results of the survey were presented to Santa Anita management on Tuesday in a two-page letter written by the executive director of the trainers' group, Ed Halpern.

FLORENCE, Ky. - Officials from racetracks that host Kentucky Derby prep races often arrive at Churchill Downs wearing ballcaps, buttons, or other paraphernalia touting the winner of whatever race they have hosted.

The Turfway Park folks came to Churchill last May openly rooting for Hard Spun, the winner of the Lane's End Stakes, perpetuating a Turfway tradition that has included such Lane's End winners and major Derby threats as Hansel, Prairie Bayou, Stephen Got Even, and Perfect Drift.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - La Dolce Vita has been declared the official winner of the controversial Suwannee River Handicap at Gulfstream Park following an appeals hearing held here on Wednesday.

William Greely, former president of Keeneland who was chosen by track officials to preside over the hearing, disqualified original winner Green Girl and placed her last.

Sierra Sunset will miss the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby after he was found to have a small fracture line in his left front ankle, according to his trainer, Jeff Bonde. The horse would have been a top contender in the April 12 Arkansas Derby follow his three-length victory in the Grade 3 Rebel Stakes on March 15.