Two years ago, Spirit of Makena was in peak form in sprints at Santa Anita, winning consecutive starts in graded stakes, including the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes.

On Saturday, Spirit of Makena is back in the $100,000 San Carlos at seven furlongs for his first start in 18 months. The San Carlos can show whether the now 7-year-old Spirit of Makena will be a factor in California’s sprint division.

“I hope he surprises me, but he’s been off for a year,” trainer George Papaprodromou forewarned on Thursday. “He might need the race.”

The Del Mar summer meeting is slightly less than four months away, but close enough to weigh on the mind of trainer Jonathan Thomas.

Thomas, who has won three stakes at the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, will have a full-time presence at Del Mar this summer for the first time. In the last few weeks, Thomas has been in Kentucky, where he has a home. He will remain there for much of April, seeking to build his California stable. The West Coast division currently numbers 12.

The Grade 1, $750,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes has been added to the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series as a “Win and You’re In” event. It becomes the fourth such Woodbine race to earn that distinction, along with the Woodbine Mile, Summer, and Natalma Stakes.  

The new designation offers the E.P. Taylor winner a fees-paid berth into the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, a race won by Taylor runner-up Moira last year.    

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Tyler Gaffalione will be out indefinitely after he suffered a broken left ankle as a result of an incident prior to the start of Wednesday’s fourth race at Gulfstream Park, his agent Matt Muzikar said. 

Gaffalione, the second-leading rider at the Gulfstream winter meet, was booked to ride all 14 races on Saturday’s Gulfstream Park card, including Madaket Road in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby. Mike Smith will instead ride Madaket Road in that race for  Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, according to Muzikar. 

Woodbine Entertainment and the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association of Ontario announced Wednesday that they have reached an agreement in principle on a new two-year deal that boosts purses by $5.7 million. The new agreement commits $64.7 million in purses in 2025 and $65 million in 2026, both with 128-day race meets.

The 2025 meet begins Saturday, April 26, and concludes on Sunday, Dec. 14. 

Kerry Hohlbein, a former rider now working as a trainer at Laurel Park, missed out on her first stakes victory by a nose earlier this month when S S Sinatra lost a photo finish in the $75,000 Not For Love Stakes. She’s confident that more opportunities will come, however. 

“He ran a great race and I’m not upset that he just got beat like that,” Hohlbein said of the 5-year-old gelding. “It would have been nice to win, but he ran great.” 

When Peter Eurton walked into the winner’s circle after Spun Not Stirred won a $32,000 claiming race for maidens last Sunday, it was the stable’s fourth win in a little more than a week at Santa Anita.

Eurton missed most of it. He spent time in mid-March overseeing his Midwest stable, which has grown lately to include runners at Turfway Park in Kentucky and Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.

The stakes-winning sprinter Roll On Big Joe was deliberately held out of Saturday’s San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita in favor of a stakes in Arkansas later this spring, trainer Bob Hess, Jr. said.

Hess wrote in a text message on Wednesday that Roll On Big Joe is scheduled to have his next start in the $200,000 Lake Hamilton Stakes at six furlongs at Oaklawn Park on May 2.

Roll On Big Joe is unbeaten in two starts this year at Santa Anita – an allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Jan. 3, and a four-length win in the Grade 3 Palos Verdes Stakes at six furlongs on Feb. 15.