HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Irad Ortiz Jr., leading jockey at the Gulfstream Park Championship meet who has not ridden since March 19 due to the coronavirus pandemic, will return to the saddle starting Saturday at Gulfstream Park, his agent, Steve Rushing, said Sunday.

Ortiz cited concerns for the safety of his family in light of the coronavirus pandemic as the reason he would cease riding on March 19. Ortiz, who was scheduled to ride Portos for trainer Todd Pletcher two days later in the Louisiana Derby, won two races on his final day in the saddle.

Queen’s Plate prospect Edge of Fire breezed five-eighths in 1:03.80 on Sunday at the Palm Meadows training center in preparation for Saturday’s $75,000 Unbridled Stakes for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Jimmy Jerkens for Chiefswood Stables, Edge of Fire was an in-hand debut winner going six furlongs on Feb. 1 at Gulfstream. When moving out to a mile in a March 27 allowance, he wound up second to the unbeaten Money Moves, while boosting his Beyer Speed Figure output from 67 to 85.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The multiple Group 1 winner Letruska remained unbeaten on dirt after winning her 4-year-old debut impressively last Thursday at Oaklawn Park. 

Letruska, who invaded from South Florida for the allowance route for fillies and mares, wired the field while covering a mile and a sixteenth in a sharp 1:42.38 and earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 94. 

“She ran very, very good,” trainer Fausto Gutierrez said Saturday. “She made a big performance.” 

The five-time stakes winner Sharp Samurai worked Saturday as he approaches $1 million in career earnings. But with racing temporarily suspended at Santa Anita since March 22 because of the coronavirus outbreak, reaching that goal may take longer than hoped.

Sharp Samurai is one of more than 2,000 Thoroughbreds based at Southern California tracks and training centers that prepare each day for the resumption of racing. The problem is owners and trainers do not know when racing will restart.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Combatant will make his next start in the Grade 2, $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap on May 2, according to his trainer, John Sadler. 

Combatant won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in his last start March 7. He is owned by Hronis Racing, which purchased the 5-year-old horse at auction in November at Keeneland. 

Jockey Channing Hill, who was thrown from his mount in the second race Friday at Oaklawn Park, has been diagnosed with three compression fractures in his lower back, according to his agent, John Gasper.

Gasper said Friday night that Hill told him he was not experiencing any pain. Hill was to remain at St. Vincent in Hot Springs, Ark., overnight for observation. Gasper said the rider has an MRI scheduled for Saturday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - When entries were drawn over the weekend for the first two juvenile races of the local season, most everybody was predicting the same trainer would win both events. But few, if any, suggested that trainer would be Juan Alvarado, not Wesley Ward, whose barn typically dominates 2-year-old races at this time of year.

After briefly considering a trip to Oaklawn Park for the Grade 1, $750,000 Arkansas Derby on May 2, the connections of Max Player have decided to pass that race and wait for something closer to home in New York.

“I spoke to [owner] George Hall and we’ve decided that it’s too far to go,” Rice said by phone Friday from Belmont Park. “It’s going to be a pretty strong race and it’s a long way to travel so we’re going to stay here and hope that we reopen and have something that’s immediately in front of us.”

Scott Chaney, an attorney with an extensive background in racing as an assistant trainer and steward at Southern California tracks, has been named the executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, the regulatory body announced in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

Chaney replaces Rick Baedeker, who last fall announced his intention to leave the position after a successor was found. The racing board said Baedeker retired on March 31.

In order to be able to ride at Oaklawn Park on May 1-2, jockey Javier Castellano will have to self-quarantine somewhere other than New York for two weeks, according to his agent, John Panagot.

To satisfy that requirement, Castellano left New York for Florida on Thursday and will spend two weeks at his mom’s apartment in the Hollywood area before flying to Arkansas on April 30. He is scheduled to ride British Idiom in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes on May 1 and Farmington Road in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on May 2.