HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Robertino Diodoro, who won his first Oaklawn title in 2020, is settled in for the new meet, which started Friday. He knows it will be a battle to defend his title in Hot Springs.

“It’s not going to be easy,” he said. “If I said it wasn’t on my mind or my team’s mind, I’d be lying. We’re all competitive. Again, it’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to try our best to have a good, solid meet. I think we’re light in a couple of spots, but at the same time we’re solid.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Edgeway, who was arguably the most impressive debut winner of the Oaklawn meet in 2020, could make an appearance at Oaklawn this season, said John Sadler, the Southern California-based trainer who has a division at Oaklawn.

Edgeway popped a Beyer Speed Figure of 94 when she won a maiden special weight sprint for 3-year-old fillies last February at Oaklawn. The daughter of Competitive Edge rolled by five lengths while covering six furlongs in 1:09.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Joe Talamo tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday morning, according to his agent, Jake Romans. Talamo was off his mounts for the opening-day card and likely won’t ride until Feb. 5, Romans said.

Romans said that Talamo has no symptoms and is feeling fine.

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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association has 202 racing dates scheduled for 2021 based on the schedule for the remaining meets it released on Friday.

Following 58 days of racing at Aqueduct from Jan. 1 through April 18, racing moves to Belmont Park on April 22 for a 48-day spring/summer meeting that runs to July 11. The 40-day Saratoga meet opens July 15 and runs through Sept. 6.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Pete’s Play Call, the Gravesend Stakes winner, worked five furlongs in 1:01.58 over the Belmont Park training track Friday for an expected start in the Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan Stakes next Saturday at Aqueduct.

“He went very, very good,” trainer Rudy Rodriguez said. “That’s what I was looking for – a nice, solid breeze. Now we just have to hope he comes back good, but he did what we expected him to do.”

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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Capo Kane, the Jerome Stakes winner, returned to the work tab Wednesday at Parx, breezing five furlongs in 1:01.96 in preparation for an expected start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 6.

The work was the fastest of seven moves at the distance that day.

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Trainer Harold Wyner said Capo Kane worked by himself and “came out of the work very well.”

A typical day for Southern California trainer Richard Rosales has two beginnings.

In the 3 o’clock hour – that’s a.m. – Rosales and his wife, Elena, head to Los Alamitos to care for their small stable. By 8 a.m., Rosales is back home. Class is nearly in session.

For the next six hours, Rosales teaches 26 fourth-graders in the Los Angeles Unified School District. For nearly a year, the class has assembled via the internet because of the pandemic. Normally, Rosales would be in a classroom in Gardena, Calif.

With significant rain in the forecast for the weekend, a number of horses with designs on major races next weekend got in drills on Friday morning at Santa Anita, included Spielberg, the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity winner, who is scheduled to compete in the Grade 3, $100,000 Robert Lewis Stakes on Saturday, Jan. 30.

Spielberg worked five furlongs in company with Medina Spirit, with both receiving times of 1:01.20.

Idol finished his 3-year-old season on Dec. 26 with a second-place finish by a half-length in his stakes debut in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.

The race served as the start of a winter campaign that could lead to a stakes win as quickly as next Saturday.

Idol is scheduled to start in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on Jan. 30, a $200,000 race that is a key prep for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles on March 6.

“I want to run him a mile and a quarter anyway,” trainer Richard Baltas said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Swiss Skydiver, who surely will be named the champion 3-year-old filly of 2020 when Eclipse Awards are announced Thursday night, is nearing her first breeze of the year. Trainer Kenny McPeek said the 2020 Preakness winner “has been galloping at Gulfstream for two or three weeks now and is doing great.”

“We gave her 60 days’ rest and have no first race back in mind,” he said. “There are no intentions of going to Saudi Arabia or Dubai with her.”