In June, apprentice Yedsit Hazlewood’s burgeoning career was put on hold when he and a fellow jockey were involved in a late-night car accident driving back from New York. The 17-year-old rider underwent surgery on his wrist and missed two months. It was a profound wake-up call.

“The accident helped me to be able to understand and be more mature about this,” Hazlewood said through a translator. “To get an opportunity like this, you will never get it again and you don’t want to waste it.”

Two days later than scheduled, Santa Anita begins its winter-spring meeting on Sunday with an 11-race program that includes 29 stakes winners.

The number of stakes winners could grow by late Sunday afternoon, considering there are six stakes spread across the program, which starts at 11 a.m. Pacific.

Roll On Big Joe, who swept in from Kentucky to win the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes over opening weekend at Oaklawn, will be back, according to trainer Bob Hess Jr. The horse, who last weekend had been cross-entered in the Holiday Cheer on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park, won his fourth stakes of the year in the Ring the Bell.

Many consider the riding colony assembled for the Oaklawn Park meet that opened last weekend one of the deepest in recent memory. The lineup of more than 40 jockeys includes such prominent names as Luis Saez, Joel Rosario, Rafael Bejarano, Ricardo Santana Jr., and Jaime Torres.

Heading into the second week of the meet, Ramon Vazquez and Cristian Torres sat atop the local standings with five wins each, while Francisco Arrieta is hot on their heels with four wins. The men have all been dominant players the last several years at Oaklawn.

Touchuponastar, the standout Louisiana-bred 6-year-old, has returned to regular training after his ridiculously easy Dec. 13 win in the Louisiana Champions Day Classic. Where and when he races next remains to be decided.

Jake Delhomme, the principal in Set-Hut, Touchuponastar’s owner, already has done plenty of thinking about the gelding’s near-term future. He’ll do plenty more.

“There’s a lot to think about,” Delhomme said Friday morning. “I don’t look at that as a burden. I look at it as a privilege.”

Skelly, who has been one of the most prolific sprinters to compete at Oaklawn Park, has been retired, it was announced by a representative of the owners on social media. Skelly finished a troubled fifth in Saturday’s $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes.

Skelly is a 6-year-old gelding by Practical Joke who retires with a record of 12 wins from 25 starts for earnings of $2,018,963.