Samuel Marin stood in the Aqueduct winner’s circle following his victory on Throckmorton in the Awad Stakes on Nov. 9 and was asked about whether he gave consideration to riding in New York this winter.

“I love it here, it’s a dream to be here, but our plan is when Tampa opens, to be there,” Marin said.

Fair Grounds commences its 154th racing season Thursday – something that wasn’t assured as recently as June.

In March, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that Fair Grounds, owned by Churchill Downs Inc., had to stop using so-called historical horse racing machines it had begun operating alongside the company’s existing video poker terminals. That ruling combined with the Louisiana legislature passing gambling bills that CDI claimed would dilute its video poker revenue led to an exceedingly strong response.

A Friday pick six carryover at Del Mar will help the track regain momentum after a start-and-stop week of wet weather and the cancellation of the Saturday card. The pick six carryover will pique interest when Del Mar resumes racing.

The hottest jockey the first three weeks of the Del Mar autumn meet? Mirco Demuro scored his meet-leading 10th victory Sunday and will enter the final two weeks of the meet on top of the standings with a 10-for-22 record. Antonio Fresu ranks second with eight wins from 44 mounts.

Demuro, a 46-year-old Italian jockey who became a top rider in Japan, relocated to California early this year before the Del Mar summer meet. Although it took a while to gain traction, everything is clicking now for Demuro.

Tamara passed her test, resumed training, and will make her 5-year-old debut in a January sprint stakes at Santa Anita. A Grade 1-winning filly produced by Beholder, Tamara was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint by regulatory vets who told trainer Richard Mandella she was “lame in the left front.”

Mandella sent Tamara to Santa Anita last week for a PET scan. As Mandella expected, Tamara passed the exam. “Everything’s within normal limits,” Mandella said. “Everybody’s happy.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – The autumn stakes schedule for 2-year-olds in California was disrupted by the cancellation of the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar. Originally scheduled for last Sunday, the seven-furlong race was postponed to Nov. 21, and then scrapped entirely when it drew only three entrants.

The canceled Bob Hope will not be brought back this season.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Grade 3, $175,000 Pebbles Stakes and the $150,000 Forever Together Stakes have been rescheduled for Sunday after being postponed when the final seven races on last Sunday’s card were canceled due to high winds.

Entries for those races will be taken and redrawn on Wednesday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tom Morley, who has started the meet with five wins from 14 starters, is expecting things to cool down this winter.

That’s due in part to Morley deciding to forgo sending a division to Fair Grounds as he typically does in winter and turning out most, if not all, of his turf horses for the season. Morley said he could see up to half of his 50-horse stable getting winter breaks, with the idea that those turf-oriented horses will be running over Belmont Park’s new synthetic surface in the winter of 2027.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Fionn won Saturday’s Grade 3 Jockey Club Oaks, it gave trainer Brad Cox his sixth win and fourth stakes victory at Aqueduct in the first two weeks of November.

Fionn won the Jockey Club Oaks for 3-year-old fillies by a half-length over Laurelin, her sixth victory from eight starts in 2025. It may have earned her a start in the Grade 1, $300,000 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 26. A victory in the American Oaks could put Fionn in the conversation for the Eclipse Award in the female turf division.