OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When trainer Todd Pletcher elected not to ship American Tattoo up from Florida it made for a wide-open second renewal of the $100,000 Bernardini Stakes, to be run Saturday at Aqueduct.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Tiz the Law, the early favorite for the Kentucky Derby, missed a couple of works this month after he sprung a shoe, but should be back on the work tab no later than Monday, trainer Barclay Tagg said Thursday at the Palm Meadows training center, where he is based this winter.

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The spring meet at Churchill Downs, which is, of course, highlighted by the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May, will feature a new placement for the Stephen Foster Stakes and the creation of several new stakes, the Louisville track announced on Thursday.

In total, the 38-day spring meet will include 41 stakes worth a record $14 million. The meet runs from April 25 through June 27.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park has increased all overnight purses from $1,000 to $4,000 a race, the track announced Thursday. The boost goes into effect with the races for Saturday.

Oaklawn projects purses this meet will average more than $600,000 a day. It’s a track record, fueled in part by a gaming center expansion that opened the day before the meet opened Jan. 24. On the track, field sizes are averaging 9.5 horses a race, according to Lou Cella, president of Oaklawn.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Thursday’s eight-race card at Aqueduct was canceled due to a forecast for high winds, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday morning.

According to The National Weather Service, the winds Thursday afternoon are expected to 23 to 29 miles per hour with wind gusts as high as 39.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Before the Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes culminates an extremely busy day, Gulfstream Park will run nine other stakes, eight of them graded, on a blockbuster Saturday card that starts at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

In reverse order, here’s a quick rundown:

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saturday’s Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream lost one major player after trainer Mark Hennig made a late decision to hold his stakes-winning 3-year-old filly Maedean out of the race in lieu of running her at Aqueduct one week later in the Busher Stakes.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – He was bitten early by the racing bug, so much so that, from a young age, training was all he ever wanted to do. He remembers marveling at the exploits of Cigar in the mid 1990s, and in the late 1990s was captivated by the American Triple Crown, seeing the same faces show up every year.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – War Stopper, a four-length maiden winner here on Jan. 11, worked a half-mile in 49.96 seconds Tuesday morning over the Belmont Park training track in preparation for a start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes on March 7.

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez, aboard for the work, said he galloped out a strong quarter of a mile past the wire.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018, worked a half-mile in 49.20 seconds on Wednesday at Santa Anita, his second workout of the year.

Unraced since an impressive win in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby last July, Game Winner was rested last fall before returning to trainer Bob Baffert’s stable. Owned by Gary and Mary West, Game Winner is expected to return to racing in the spring.

Game Winner was the most prominent worker on a morning when several notable 3-year-olds were active.