The busiest jockey at Los Alamitos on Friday will be the leading rider after the first three days of the track’s December meeting.

Apprentice jockey Alexis Centeno is booked to ride all eight races on the Friday program. Through Sunday, Centeno led all riders with four wins, closely pursued by four riders with three wins – Abel Cedillo, Drayden Van Dyke, Juan Hernandez, and Ricardo Gonzalez. The 11-day Los Alamitos meeting runs through Dec. 20 and the riding title may not be decided until that day.

There are plenty of really good horses stabled in New Orleans this winter. A bunch reside in the Brad Cox barn, but trainer Steve Asmussen has a loaded Fair Grounds stable, too.

Quite a bit of the high-end talent worked this week, including a horse who never has started for Asmussen. Shancelot breezed five furlongs Tuesday in 1:00.40, his fifth work at Fair Grounds since Asmussen sent him there in November. Shancelot had breezed steadily through July in Kentucky, but Asmussen had to stop on him over the summer before ramping up the pace of Shancelot’s exercsise.

Average daily handle at the Aqueduct fall meet was $9,261,276, an increase of 12.8 percent over the daily average of $8,209,988 handled at the 2019 Aqueduct fall meet.

All-sources handle on 175 races conducted over 18 programs this fall was $166,702,976 while all-sources handle in 2019 was $205,249,710 on 233 races run over 25 programs. The 2019 Thanksgiving Day program was canceled due to weather. The final five races of the Dec. 1, 2019 card were also canceled.

Handle on the 2020 Cigar Mile Day card was $11,645,229, down 37 percent from last year’s handle of $18,518,056.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Bodexpress, who upset the Clark at Churchill Downs last month for his first Grade 1 win, has been retired, his connections reported on Monday. Bodexpress was expected to be among the leading candidates for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational here on Jan. 23.

Trainer Jamey Thomas has been fined $3,000 and suspended 15 days for a medication violation at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton in July, according to a ruling published by Los Alamitos stewards on Sunday.

Cozze Kid tested positive for the analgesic gabapentin when third in a $20,000 claimer for fillies and mares on July 10. The purse was ordered redistributed for the third through sixth-place finishers in a ruling published by Golden Gate Fields stewards on Oct. 31.

Extra Hope, a 4-year-old colt who has won his last two starts, has a chance to enhance his position among California’s older horses with an expected appearance in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

Extra Hope worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Monday, his first workout since a win in the Grade 3 Native Diver Stakes against three rivals at Del Mar on Nov. 21.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – To Kendrick Carmouche, it was never about ability. It was always about opportunity.

This fall, Carmouche took advantage of the opportunity afforded him by horsemen and won the Aqueduct fall meet riding title, his first title since moving his tack to New York from Parx Racing in 2015. Carmouche won 23 races at the 18-day fall stand, four more than Jose Lezcano.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Christophe Clement won his first trainer’s title on the New York Racing Association circuit, taking the Aqueduct fall meet title with 16 wins, one more than trainer Todd Pletcher. Aqueduct’s 18-day fall meet concluded Sunday.

The title comes after Clement finished second in both the Belmont spring and fall meets and tied for third at Saratoga.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher said he would try to run Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes winner Malathaat twice during the winter in preparation for an anticipated start in the Kentucky Oaks on April 30.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - While admitting that he and his partner Mark Schwartz “are Derby dreaming just like everybody else” trainer Daniel Velazquez said he has yet to devise a plan for Remsen winner Brooklyn Strong’s 3-year-old campaign.

Brooklyn Strong, who beat Ten for Ten by a neck in Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Remsen Stakes, returned to Delaware Park on Saturday night. He will soon transition to Parx Racing, where Velazquez will be based this winter.