ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The last Kentucky Derby winner to race at Arlington was Unbridled, who, the year after winning the 1990 Derby, won an allowance race here in 1991. But Arlington is the plan for 2014 Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, who arrived in Chicago on Monday after shipping from England by way of Amsterdam.

ELMONT, N.Y. – As it did last year, the Aqueduct backstretch will be shut down during the Saratoga meet and horses stabled there will be moved to either Belmont Park or Saratoga, New York Racing Association officials announced last week.

The backside is expected to close about July 23 and reopen about Labor Day, Sept. 7, according to Martin Panza, NYRA’s director of racing operations.

ELMONT, N.Y. – With a nine-win lead entering the final two weeks of the meet, Todd Pletcher seems pretty certain to win his eighth Belmont spring-summer trainers title. The question is whether he will set a meet record for victories.

Pletcher entered this week with 39 wins, five short of David Jacobson’s record of 44, established in 2013.

Pletcher had three runners entered Wednesday and two on Thursday, but none for Friday’s card.

Pletcher’s personal best for number of wins at a Belmont spring-summer meet is 40, which he attained winning the meet title in 2003.

ELMONT, N.Y. – With nine weeks between races, trainer Shug McGaughey did not feel it was necessary to do too much too soon with his Grade 1 winner Honor Code in order to have him ready for the $1.25 million Whitney Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga.

So, in the first 30 days after his Met Mile victory Honor Code had just one work, a half-mile move in 49.44 seconds June 20. Tuesday, Honor Code had his second work since the race, a three-furlong move timed by Belmont clockers in 36.81 over the main track.

CYPRESS, Calif. – This summer is shaping into a busy one in stakes races for California-based trainer Keith Desormeaux.

Already, Desormeaux won the $150,500 San Juan Capistrano at Santa Anita on June 28 with the former claimer Crucero. Last Saturday, Texas Red, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November, ran a game second in the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park.

Desormeaux has plans to have stakes runners at Los Alamitos this weekend and at Del Mar and Saratoga in coming weeks.

CYPRESS, Calif. – The first week of the Los Alamitos summer meeting was a rough one for jockeys.

Four riders were cited for five instances of violating new rules for whip abuse, two riders misjudged the finish line and received suspensions, and two riders were disqualified for causing interference.

On July 1, the California Horse Racing Board enacted tougher whip rules stating riders could strike a horse on the flank only three times in succession before pausing to allow the horse to respond.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Los Alamitos showed growth in all-sources handle in the first week of the track’s summer meeting.

From July 2 through Sunday, all-sources handle, including simulcasting and account-wagering venues, grew 5.4 percent, from $24,783,656 in 2014 to $26,209,149 this year, according to track officials. The all-sources handle of $8,022,511 last Saturday was the highest since daytime Thoroughbred racing resumed at the track in July 2014.

Michael Ritvo recently became a journeyman rider and won his first race without an apprentice weight allowance June 29 at Parx Racing.

Ritvo, 21, made good use of his apprenticeship, winning 194 races from 1,168 mounts with purse earnings of more than $4.4 million.

Ritvo began riding at Gulfstream Park in March 2014. He won 29 races there before moving north to ride at Delaware Park in September, where he quickly won 31 races before the meet ended.

Normandy Invasion came out of his comeback race in good shape, according to trainer Larry Jones.

Normandy Invasion finished second in a Delaware Park allowance on July 1. He was herded wide into the first turn of the 1 1/16-mile race by eventual winner Our Caravan and jockey Alex Cintron, took the lead easily nearing the stretch, but was beaten three-quarters of a length when Our Caravan came on again.

Normandy Invasion was making his first start since the 2014 Met Mile. He fractured sesamoids and had surgery following a training accident last September.

Larry Jones is ready to start the second half of his season Saturday when he runs Kentucky Oaks winner Lovely Maria in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks. He is pointing his other star filly I’m a Chatterbox to the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 26 at Saratoga.

Jones swept the winter/spring stakes for 3-year-old fillies in Louisiana and Kentucky with Lovely Maria and I’m a Chatterbox.