HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Edwin Gonzalez, a major force since joining the local jockey colony at the start of the spring-summer meet, had his best day here yet, winning five races on Thursday, including the third event aboard K’s Running Free. The five-bagger moved him into third place in the standings entering Friday’s action, just two victories behind co-leaders Edgard Zayas and Paco Lopez.

Gonzalez rode K’s Running Free for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla – Chance It, whose promising career was sidetracked while he was prepping for the 2020 Kentucky Derby, is finally ready to return to the races after zipping five furlongs from the gate in 58.69 here on Friday.

Chance It, who stumbled and lost his rider attempting to work from the gate last Sunday, broke cleanly inside two others Friday and dominated the work. He posted early splits of 22.60 and 34.94 for three-eighths, was urged to complete a half in 46.12 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.41 with jockey Luca Panici aboard.

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano has retained Steve Rushing to be his new agent starting next week, the rider confirmed Friday morning.

Castellano, a four-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey, has been represented the last two years by John Panagot.

Rushing also is the agent for Irad Ortiz Jr., the reigning three-time Eclipse Award-winning rider who leads the nation in wins and purse money won in 2021.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Stay Fantastic will try to take off where he left off last year when he runs in a $30,000 open allowance race for 3-year-olds and up on Monday at Hastings. The 6 1/2-furlong dash drew six horses and goes as race 5 on the seven-race card, which begins at 5 p.m. Pacific. 

Opening day at Fort Erie Racetrack has been postponed due to Thursday’s provincial government announcement that stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic will continue across Ontario until June 2. The meet was originally scheduled to begin June 1, but will be rescheduled for a later date.

Racing will commence when the province ends the lockdown and gives approval for horse racing to resume in Ontario. Fort Erie’s backstretch will remain open in order to provide essential care for horses. 

Assiniboia Downs has postponed the beginning of its 2021 meet from Monday to the following Monday, May 24.

Interprovincial travel restrictions and quarantine requirements have resulted in some unexpected travel delays for horsemen who had planned to be ready to race next week.

BALTIMORE – With Keepmeinmind, trainer Robertino Diodoro is enjoying his first Triple Crown experience. He doesn’t expect it to be his last.

“I haven’t left here and I’m already itching to get back,” Diodoro said Thursday morning at Pimlico where on Saturday he planned to start Keepmeinmind in the $1 million Preakness.

Diodoro, who made his reputation as a claiming trainer, said he is getting better stock and has 2-year-olds by top sires such as Into Mischief and Medaglia d’Oro that he hopes can get him back on the trail next year.

BALTIMORE – Once was, a whole lot of Kentucky Derby runners would run back two weeks later in the Preakness Stakes. But with modern-day horsemen preferring more time between races, it has become increasingly common for just a handful of Derby starters – if not fewer – to resurface in the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico Race Course.

They had just crossed the finish line in the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks, with John Velazquez and Malathaat outfinishing Irad Ortiz Jr. and Search Results by a neck. The vanquished Ortiz, the three-time reigning Eclipse champion jockey, patted Velazquez multiple times on the back and then reached for his hand to congratulate him.

“I had to congratulate him,” Ortiz, 28, said this week. “I told him, ‘You are our teacher.’ It came from my heart, honestly. I respect him.

BALTIMORE – Over the last quarter-century, the Preakness has been the most accurate predictor of which 3-year-old will wind up being named the divisional champion – even more than the Kentucky Derby. Since 1996, 16 of the last 25 Preakness winners have been voted the top 3-year-old that year, and that doesn’t even include Rachel Alexandra, the 2009 Horse of the Year and top 3-year-old filly, and Swiss Skydiver, the top 3-year-old filly of 2020.