Entries for the May 2 Arkansas Derby will be taken Sunday at Oaklawn Park, and there will be plenty of scoreboard watching, because the number of horses who enter the race will impact whether it is split into two divisions. If it’s not, Charlatan, one of the most highly ranked 3-year-olds in the country, is in danger of not getting in based on the race conditions.

Trainer Todd Pletcher nominated five 3-year-olds to Saturday’s $75,000 Unbridled Stakes and ultimately decided to enter just one, Dr Post, in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds. The Unbridled, an overnight stakes created by Gulfstream to help fill the dearth of races for 3-year-olds with many jurisdictions shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, drew a field of seven.

Irad Ortiz Jr. believes he’s fit physically and – perhaps more importantly – mentally ready to return to race riding Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

Ortiz, the two-time reigning Eclipse Award-winning jockey, is named on nine horses on Saturday’s 12-race card, including Dr Post in the $75,000 Unbridled Stakes for 3-year-olds.

Ortiz has not ridden since March 19, owing in large part to the requests of his family, in particular his wife, Meliza, who is pregnant with the couple’s third child.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Tampa Bay Derby winner King Guillermo will say bon voyage to South Florida for the better part of the next month when he boards a van bound for Oaklawn Park along with stablemate Trophy Chaser at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Approximately 12 hours earlier, he turned in the last in a series of very impressive works in preparation for the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on May 2.

In a typical season, Tampa Bay Downs would be moving into the final days of its meet. But nothing about this season is typical, and Tampa, which is one of the few major tracks that has been able to continue racing during the coronavirus pandemic, has applied to extend its meeting.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A backstretch worker at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., and an employee of the track have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus in the past three weeks but no further cases have emerged, a spokesperson for the parent company of the track, Churchill Downs, confirmed on Wednesday morning.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Ce Ce, who won her second straight Grade 1 race Saturday in the $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, has some family business to attend to at Del Mar, according to trainer Michael McCarthy.

“During the summer, her goal will be the Clement Hirsch,” McCarthy said of the Grade 1 fixture run over the same 1 1/16-mile distance of the Apple Blossom.

McCarthy noted the race is named for the late father of Bo Hirsch, who bred and owns Ce Ce.

Ce Ce was scheduled to arrive back at her Santa Anita base Tuesday.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Channing Hill remained in a local hospital Monday morning as he continues to recuperate from injuries sustained Friday, when he was thrown from his mount in the second race at Oaklawn.

Hill was diagnosed with three compression fractures in his lower back, according to his agent, John Gasper. Gasper said the rider was expected to be released from St. Vincent hospital on Tuesday. Hill will be sidelined indefinitely.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With the postponement of the Kentucky Derby from the first Saturday in May until the first Saturday in September, the opportunity has arisen for late-developing 3-year-olds to insert themselves in the Derby picture in the months ahead.

In early March, when Scott Chaney was in advanced discussions to replace the retiring Rick Baedeker as the executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, there were four tracks operating throughout the state.

When Chaney officially began the job last Thursday, California was down to one – the Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred evening meeting at Los Alamitos. Thoroughbred meetings at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita and the harness meeting in Sacramento have been temporarily halted by county government officials because of the coronavirus outbreak.