OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott was suspended 15 days and fined $1,000 for the finding of the drug Flunixin, also known as Banamine, and an overage of Lasix in the body fluid of Saratoga Snacks, who finished last in a New York-bred allowance race Sept. 20 at Belmont Park, according to the New York State Gaming Commission.

Mott is appealing the suspension. Had he not appealed, the suspension would have been reduced to seven days.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The stars were out Friday at Payson Park, with Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist and defending Donn Handicap champion Lea both working at the training center during the course of the morning.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita has changed the conditions of the $500,000 San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 7 in an attempt to draw opponents for California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, and Shared Belief, the 2013 champion 2-year-old male.

All runners will receive a minimum of $20,000 in prize money. Typically, horses that finish fifth would receive 2 percent of the purse, which would be $10,000 in a race with the value of the San Antonio.

“We want to try to get a representative field,” racing secretary Rick Hammerle said. “It’s on national TV.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Big Macher will be pointed for the $200,000 Palos Verdes Stakes at six furlongs on Jan. 31 at Santa Anita after he was scratched from Saturday’s $150,000 California Cup Sprint by trainer Richard Baltas.

Baltas said on Friday that he is considering a start for Big Macher in the $2 million Golden Shaheen Stakes at about six furlongs at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 28. He said that Big Macher’s rail draw in the Cal Cup Sprint “was part of” the decision to scratch.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Beholder, the two-time champion, is in full training at Santa Anita and drawing rave reviews from Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella.

“She looks better than ever,” Mandella said.

Reminded that Beholder was the champion 2-year-old filly of 2012 and the champion 3-year-old filly of 2013, Mandella reiterated his position.
“I’m telling you, she looks better than ever,” he said. “She looks bigger and stronger.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Cozmic One, the first foal out of 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, worked five furlongs in 1:03 on Friday at Santa Anita in preparation for his first start. Cozmic One could make his debut in the next month.

Owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, who raced Zenyatta, Cozmic One will need additional works and gate schooling before she runs, trainer John Shirreffs said. Shirreffs trained Zenyatta, who won her first 19 starts in a 20-race career.

“He has to get his final okay at the gate,” Shirreffs said. “We’re getting him used to working in company right now.”

There is nothing surprising about where the top three finishers from last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile are training this winter. The victorious Texas Red is working at Santa Anita toward his 3-year-old debut, and the runner-up Carpe Diem and the third-place Upstart are gearing up in Florida, with the latter entered in Saturday’s Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream for his first start of 2015.

NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Hugh Robertson hasn’t run many horses at this Fair Grounds meet, but they’re paying the bills.

Through Thursday, Robertson had 5 wins, 2 seconds, and 6 thirds from 18 starts (a 72 percent in-the-money rate), and his horses had earned $155,410.

“I kind of freshened up for this meet,” said Robertson, who comes south from Chicago for the winter. “I didn’t run much at Hawthorne.”
Robertson said he sold five or six cheap horses before leaving for New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS – In the track kitchen at Fair Grounds last Sunday, jockey Jose Riquelme was accepting congratulations from other riders, agents, trainers, and others who work on the backstretch for his win the day before in the Louisiana Handicap on Hard Aces. His victory clearly was popular.

“Everybody’s happy,” Riquelme said. “Everybody’s pulling for me. It’s hard to get in the big stables. They have to see you doing good. It’s hard to get the good horses.”

Laurel Park has canceled its Friday card due to an uneven racing surface caused by a freeze-thaw weather pattern this week.

“The track is freezing at night and thawing during the afternoon. It is just uneven,” said Sal Sinatra, general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Laurel. “Until we can get some consistency, with it being either above freezing or below freezing for 24-7 where we can work it, we are going to be touch-and-go every day.”

Laurel had to cancel its Martin Luther King holiday card last Monday following freezing rain last Sunday.