ARCADIA, Calif. – Lombo, the winner of the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 3, will revert to sprints after finishing seventh in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 10.

Trainer Mike Pender said recently that Lombo should be more competitive in shorter races. Lombo finished 21 1/2 lengths behind top finishers McKinzie and Bolt d’Oro in the San Felipe. Those runners are considered the two leading 3-year-olds in the nation.

“I think I’ll go back to sprinting,” Pender said. “We took on the best the West Coast has to offer and they swallowed him whole.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Few apprentice jockeys have the sort of coaching that Asa Espinoza is enjoying this winter at Santa Anita.

Espinoza, 18, is the nephew of jockey Victor Espinoza, the regular rider of such famous runners as American Pharoah and California Chrome in recent years. Asa Espinoza began riding earlier this year and had three wins through Sunday, including the first two-win day of his career last Saturday.

The younger Espinoza is never far from his uncle. Asa is living with Victor, who shares advice on riding techniques and strategies.

The New York Racing Association will give fans purchasing tickets to the Belmont Stakes before May 18 a chance to win $150,000 in the Belmont Stakes Sweepstakes.

Each ticket purchased for Belmont Stakes Day before May 18 will earn the buyer an entry into the sweepstakes. Patrons who have already purchased tickets will be retroactively entered. Each person is limited to 12 entries.

Rudy Rodriguez has been sending out winners at a heady clip since he began training in 2010 and comes into the Friday card at Aqueduct one shy of his 1,000th victory. Yet he is anything but an overnight success story.

After immigrating to the United States from his native Mexico in 1988, Rodriguez’s first job came in the groves and fields of Florida. On the advice of his brother Jesus, he came to the racetrack and took a job as a hotwalker.

“I spent one season picking oranges, cucumbers, whatever they had,” he said.

Cesar Gomez-Previvo, a popular Quarter Horse jockey based at Remington Park, died in a Sunday night plane crash in Oklahoma. The death was confirmed by Carl Crisswell, a racetrack chaplain. Gomez was 27 and a native of Mexico, according to public record documents from the Oklahoma Racing Commission.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The field for Saturday’s Florida Derby picked up one horse and lost another on Tuesday.

Hofburg, a sharp maiden winner at Gulfstream Park on March 3, will step into the deep end of the pool on Saturday when he runs in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby, trainer Bill Mott told Gulfstream publicity on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Speed Franco, who had been listed as a probable Florida Derby starter, will instead run in the $150,000 Cutler Bay Stakes on the turf on the undercard, according to his trainer, Gustavo Delgado.

Bravazo emerged from his eighth-place finish Saturday in the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds in good physical condition and will advance to the Kentucky Derby, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said on Tuesday.

Bravazo returned to his Oaklawn Park base Sunday. He was the 2.90-1 second choice for the Louisiana Derby following his nose win in the Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds in February, for which he earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 93. In the Louisiana Derby, he raced in contention early under Gary Stevens before ending up 21 1/4 lengths behind winner Noble Indy.  

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Edgar Morales has emerged as the leading apprentice during the Oaklawn Park meet, where he has found favor with a wide range of trainers.

“We’ve got a lot of business for the first time here,” said Morales.

Morales ranks 11th in the overall standing at Oaklawn through Sunday, with 13 wins from 138 starts. His mounts have earned $473,843. The 19-year-old, who was born in Puerto Rico, is the younger brother of the Louisiana-based rider Roberto Morales.

This much is certain: Good Samaritan returns to trainer Bill Mott’s stable at Payson Park in Florida for the near term. Beyond that, the horizon is clear for Good Samaritan, who has all sorts of options in coming months after winning his 4-year-old debut Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 New Orleans Handicap.

Anyone needing further affirmation that, at least for the spring, Synchrony is one of the best middle-distance horses in North America got it on Saturday in the Muniz Memorial Handicap.

Synchrony had returned from a long layoff with scintillating score Feb. 17 in the Fair Grounds Handicap, which produced a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure. In the Grade 2, $300,000 Muniz, Synchrony fully validated that performance, winning by 1 3/4 lengths in a deeper, stronger field, and getting another career-best Beyer of 101.