Wagering on the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in Louisville on Friday was a record $17.47 million, according to a chart of the race, a 18 percent gain on wagering on the race last year.

The strong wagering figure for the Oaks this year was a $2.4 million handle jump from the record set in 2015, when $15.05 million was bet on the race. It was also part of a record-setting full card for the Oaks, with total handle on the 13 races on Friday coming in at $55.8 million, a 14 percent increase over the total handle on the 13-race card last year, according to Churchill.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Rafael Bejarano, who has not ridden since he sustained a wrist injury on March 18, has resumed working horses this week in advance of a scheduled comeback on Thursday.

Bejarano was in the stable area on Friday, his second day of exercising horses, he said.

Bejarano, 35, began physical therapy last month after a brief trip to see family in Peru. A former leading rider in Southern California, Bejarano has won 24 races this year. He finished seventh in the standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, which ended on April 9, with 29 wins.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Pavel, who was fourth in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on March 31, will return to racing later this month in a Grade 1 race at Santa Anita – the $500,000 Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on May 26, or the $400,000 Shoemaker Mile on turf on May 28.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said on Friday that Pavel’s workouts will determine which race is chosen.

“We know Dubai can take a bit out of them, so we’re giving him plenty of time,” O’Neill said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Blended Citizen was scratched from Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs after failing to draw into the race from the also-eligible list on Friday morning. The recent stakes winner will not be idle for long.

Trainer Doug O’Neill intends to run Blended Citizen in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 12 as a prep for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on June 9. The $350,000 Peter Pan Stakes is run at 1 1/8 miles.

“He acts like a stamina horse,” O’Neill said. “We were hoping to have a chance in the Kentucky Derby.”

Bouncing back from a difficult winter in Florida, Edgar Prado has ridden well since returning to Maryland, consistently placing his horses in the proper spots. Through Thursday, he was 7 for 30 at Laurel Park. He also had a little win two weeks ago at Charles Town.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The $500,000 Woodbine Oaks, for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies, is about a month away on June 9, and Dixie Moon will have her final prep race May 19 in the Grade 3, $125,000 Selene Stakes, trainer Catherine Day Phillips said.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Chiefswood Stable entered a different horse in each leg of last year’s Canadian Triple Crown and came away with runner-up finishes in each race, with Tiz a Slam in the Queen’s Plate, Aurora Way in the Prince of Wales Stakes, and Final Copy in the Breeders’ Stakes. The stable’s depth is on display again this year in the lead-up to the Queen’s Plate, with top contenders Neepawa and Pipers Warrior along with Rose’s Vision, who has emerged in his last two starts.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On the first Saturday of May 2017, McCraken was in the Kentucky Derby spotlight, ultimately finishing eighth as the 6-1 fourth choice in the 20-horse field.

On the first Saturday of May 2018, McCraken will be one of three graduates of the 2017 Kentucky Derby to run in allowance races at Churchill Downs. McCraken will compete in a multi-conditioned one-mile allowance that goes as race 5.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mendelssohn was the horse everyone was waiting to see here Thursday following his release from quarantine the previous afternoon.

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner clearly announced his presence to the crowd with a few good hollers, apparently par for the course for him, as he jogged by the grandstand with a trio of his buddies from the Aidan O’Brien barn shortly after the special Derby-Oaks training session ended around 7:45 a.m.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – This guy named Aidan O’Brien has run horses in 61 American races that weren’t on turf and come away with two lousy wins. Some trainer, hey? And his jockey, Ryan Moore? Goose eggs across the win, place, and show columns in 18 American starts that weren’t on turf.

Who do these people think they are, bringing this grandiosely named colt Mendelssohn from Ireland to race in the Kentucky Derby?

Here’s a good place to invoke a useful phrase introduced into the American lexicon by Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”