HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- Several potential starters for next Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby got in their final works for the race on Friday, including Hades and Fierceness, who finished first and third, respectively, in the Grade 3 Holy Bull earlier this winter.

At Gulfstream Park, Hades open-galloped a half-mile before breezing another easy half-mile in 50.21 seconds over a dry and very cuppy racetrack while finishing into a stiff headwind down the stretch. His regular work rider, Ray Ganpath, was in the saddle.

Muth, winner of the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita in January and one of the leading 2-year-olds of 2023, will start in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on March 30, trainer Bob Baffert wrote in a text message on Friday.

The $1.5 million Arkansas Derby will be Muth’s first start at 1 1/8 miles.

Owned by Amr Zedan, Muth has won 3 of 5 starts and earned $716,600. Muth won the San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs in his first start since he finished a well-beaten second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita last November.

All-sources handle at California racetracks fell 4 percent, to $421.2 million, in the first two months of the year, according to data released by the California Horse Racing Board.

The figure includes ontrack handle as well as betting from simulcasting locations and through account wagering sources for daytime Thoroughbred racing at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita, evening meetings of Quarter Horses and lowel-level Thoroughbreds at Los Alamitos, and harness racing at Cal-Expo.

Handle in the first two months of 2023 was $440.7 million.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Steve Knapp, who ranked fifth in the trainer’s standings at the current Santa Anita meeting through Sunday, has been suspended 15 days from April 1 through 15 after one of the horses in his care did not undergo a mandatory soundness examination before its first workout last fall.

The decision was published by Santa Anita stewards on Sunday.

Beginning with his first career appearance at Turfway Park on Saturday, California-based jockey Frankie Dettori will travel extensively in the coming weeks to ride major races in Dubai, Santa Anita, and Keeneland.

Dettori has nine mounts at Turfway Park, including Dancing Groom in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks, an important prep for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4. Next week, Dettori is scheduled to travel to the United Arab Emirates where he will be aboard Newgate in the $12 million Dubai World Cup on March 30.

With the exception of the shuffling of a few dates, the 2024 Saratoga stakes program will virtually mirror that of last year, according to the schedule released Friday afternoon by the New York Racing Association.

In total, 71 stakes worth $20.75 million will be offered during the 40-day meet that runs from July 11 through Sept. 2. The same number of stakes worth $20.8 million were offered in 2023.  The Prioress, a six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies, downgraded to a Grade 3, incurred a $50,000 cut to $200,000.

George A. Bryant, a horseplayer who became a trainer after battling back from cancer, died Wednesday night at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, confirmed longtime friend Bradley White. Bryant was 42.

Bryant’s most recent starter, Fire Vision, won a first-level allowance on March 17 at Sam Houston Race Park. Bryant took out his trainer’s license in 2022. He vowed to realize that childhood goal following a 12-hour surgery in November 2021 to address stage 4 oral cancer. He was declared cancer-free in January 2022.  

Jockey Joel Rosario, currently tied for 11th in the jockey standings at Santa Anita, has left Southern California and will ride in Louisiana and Gulfstream Park in coming weeks, according to his agent, Ron Anderson.

Rosario is booked to ride at Fair Grounds on Friday and Saturday, and will ride at Gulfstream Park the following weekend before relocating to Kentucky for the start of the Keeneland meeting on April 5.

Later this spring, Rosario will ride in New York, Anderson said.

The bonuses paid to California-bred that win maiden races will be cut from $17,500 to $15,000 at the Santa Anita spring meeting that begins on April 19, according to a statement released by the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association earlier this week.

The bonuses are paid only to maiden winners in open company or statebred races at races of 4 1/2 furlongs or more, and are not available to the winners of claiming races for maidens.