While other 2008 Kentucky Derby contenders were in the spotlight in stakes races at Keeneland, Oaklawn Park and Gulfstream Park Saturday, 2008 Kentucky Derby favorite Big Brown worked at Palm Meadows that morning and Mt. Joy Stables’ Smooth Air continued his preparation for the 134th Kentucky Derby (gr. I) at Calder Race Course Sunday morning with a sharp mile workout timed in 1:41, a very impressive move over that surface.

Trained by Bennie Stutts Jr., Smooth Air has $290,000 in graded-stakes earnings after his runner-up effort behind Big Brown in the $1 million Florida Derby (gr. I) at Gulfstream Park on March 29. The homebred chestnut by Smooth Jazz is due to work again next Saturday before boarding a Tex Sutton Forwarding charter flight for Louisville Sunday.

The Breeders’ Cup Challenge, a series of automatic qualifying races for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, will be expanded from 24 to a minimum of 49 races at 12 of North America’s premier racing venues in 2008, Breeders’ Cup announced today.

The expanded Breeders’ Cup Challenge will now include 6 races at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto. Other new markets and tracks for the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Challenge include Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington; Suffolk Downs in Boston; Delaware Park in Wilmington, Delaware; Calder Race Course near Miami; and Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey.

The 2008 Breeders’ Cup Challenge races will begin on July 5 with races from Monmouth Park, host of last year’s Breeders’ Cup.

Cowboy Cal, ridden by jockey John Velazquez, opened up his 3-year-old season with an easy two-length victory in the $100,000 Tropical Park Derby (gr. IIIT) on New Year’s Day at Calder Race Course.
Trained by Todd Pletcher for Stonerside Stable, Cowboy Cal has won his first graded stakes victory of his career. The son of Giant’s [...]

Virginia Kraft Payson’s 3-year-old filly Rutherienne returned to Calder, where she won her two starts last season, to win the Grade III $100,000 Frances A. Genter Stakes on Saturday, December 29, Grand Slam III day at Calder Race Course.
With only a neck separating Rutherienne from two other fillies, the daughter of Pulpit ridden by jockey [...]

Saturday’s $100,000 Frances A. Genter Stakes (gr. III) for 3-year-old fillies at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf is one of the most popular events on the Calder Race Course calendar each year.
Among the runners in this event is Virginia Kraft Payson’s Kentucky homebred filly Rutherienne who is easily the best known horse nationally entered this [...]

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Just over a year after Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro shattered his leg in the Preakness, 30 racetracks across the country are set to launch a program to record on-track injuries to horses.
Under the new system, veterinarians at each track will fill out a standardized form to compile detailed reports of the [...]

Account-wagering battle has bettors out in cold
By MATT HEGARTY DAILY RACING FORM

Even by horse racing’s dysfunctional standards, it was a tough week for the sport’s account-wagering customers.
Within a span of seven days, customers of AmericaTab’s online wagering sites were told that they would need to open an account with a different company if they wanted [...]