Field size at the recently completed Canterbury Park meet in Shakopee, Minn., dropped nearly 10 percent, while betting on the track's races followed suit, with total wagering down 12.7 percent during the 50-day meet, according to an analysis by Daily Racing Form.

Average field size for the track’s Thoroughbred races dropped from 7.40 horses per race during last year’s 54-day meet to 6.75 horses this year. With 39 fewer Thoroughbred races held this year, average handle per race dropped 3.2 percent, according to the analysis.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - A parade of double-digit-priced winners capped by Blown Cover’s 41-1 upset in Friday’s finale have resulted in a carryover in both the late pick five and pick six wagers Saturday at Aqueduct. 

The carryover in the late pick five is $240,923 and the carryover in the pick six, the latter having not been hit for two days, is $123,936. The late pick five is a 50-cent wager while the pick six is a $1 bet. 

The late pick five sequence on Saturday will be on races 7 through 11 while the pick six will encompass races 6 through 11. 

Lavender Disaster, a bit of an underachiever thus far on turf, will make a surface switch to dirt in Sunday’s featured second-level allowance for filly and mares at seven furlongs at Aqueduct.

A daughter of Into Mischief, Lavender Disaster gave trainer Chad Brown the feel of a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf horse a year ago after she won at first asking at Saratoga. Her second start was a toss-out, as she got carried out badly at the quarter pole of the Grade 2 Miss Grillo and could never recover, finishing last.

Tiago Pereira, who sustained facial injuries in a one-horse spill at Del Mar on July 19, is aiming for a comeback at the Santa Anita autumn meeting that starts on Sept. 27.

Pereira’s agent, Craig Stephen, said on Thursday that the veteran rider hopes to receive doctor’s clearance next week to resume riding.

“Once he gets clear, he should be able to breeze horses,” Stephen said. “Hopefully, he’ll be ready at the beginning of Santa Anita. I’ve got a couple of stakes for him to ride. I would like him to be on them.”

Stronghold, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in 2024 and a close second in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar in August, will not race again this year, trainer Phil D’Amato said on Friday.

“You won’t see him until next year,” he said. “He’s not had time off at the farm since I’ve had him as a 2-year-old. He’ll get 60 days.”

The Illinois Racing Board on Thursday approved 63 live racing dates in 2026 at Hawthorne Race Course in the Chicago area and 57 days of live racing at Fairmount Park in Collinsville.

The dates for the tracks largely overlap, but Hawthorne and Fairmount will run on different days of the week for most of their meets. Hawthorne will begin its meet on March 29 and run through Nov. 1 with live racing on Thursdays and Sundays, while Fairmount will begin its meet on April 14, running on Tuesdays and Saturdays through Oct. 27. 

The South African-bred mare Gimme a Nother won the first stakes of her American career in the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar on Sept. 6 and will not race again until the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at the same venue on Nov. 1.

Trainer Graham Motion said on Thursday that Gimme a Nother should benefit from an eight-week gap between races.

“I will not run her in between,” he said. “She ran really well fresh this time.”

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has issued a 10-year suspension to a Midwest-based trainer after he acknowledged the possession of two electrical devices that could be used to stimulate horses, according to a ruling posted on HISA’s website. 

Isidro Castro, who has 22 lifetime wins from 333 starts since taking out his trainer’s license in 2020, “admitted responsibility” to possessing the devices during a hearing with stewards at Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Ill., on Sept. 3, according to the ruling.  

Om N Joy, unbeaten in five starts at Del Mar and Santa Anita since March, including four stakes, may race outside of California for the first time in the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes for 3-year-olds fillies at Keeneland on Oct. 18.

Trainer Aggie Ordonez said on Wednesday that Om N Joy has been nominated to the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, but that the $400,000 Raven Run Stakes has greater appeal.

The Zenyatta “looks awful tough,” she said. “It seems to make sense to stick with the 3-year-olds fillies.”