California stakes winners Pontchatrain and Top Kisser have been retired and will be bred in 2015.

Pontchatrain finished seventh in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at Santa Anita last Sunday. Following the race, Craig Bernick of owner Glen Hill Farm said on Twitter that it was time for Pontchatrain "to be a mom" and that the 4-year-old was having breathing difficulties.

By War Front, Pontchatrain won 6 of 10 starts and earned $446,392 for Glen Hill Farm and trainer Tom Proctor. Pontchatrain won four consecutive turf stakes from September 2013 until February of this year.

Jockey Joe Talamo, who finished in a tie for seventh at the Del Mar summer meeting with 19 wins, will miss the first weekend of the meeting because of a suspension.

Recently, Talamo lost an appeal of a three-day suspension given in July for causing interference in the Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar on July 18. Talamo rode Texas Ryano, who was disqualified from eighth and placed 10th.

The suspension runs from Friday through Sunday. Talamo can resume riding at Del Mar on Nov. 13.

Hall of Fame jockeys Kent Desormeaux and Gary Stevens may be a combined 95 years old, but they are looking toward the Del Mar autumn meeting that begins Friday with the enthusiasm of 20-somethings.

Both approach the meeting with something to prove.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A do-over in the Clark Handicap for the principals in the Breeders’ Cup Classic scrum would be fantastic for racing fans, although the liklihood of it actually occurring appears iffy at best.

Churchill Downs officials acknowledged Wednesday that an attempt to attract any or all of Bayern, California Chrome, and Shared Belief to the Nov. 28 Clark is being discussed within the company, although they were unwilling to divulge any particulars.

Michael S. Ferraro, who has won 18 training titles at Finger Lakes, is closing in on 3,000 career wins. Through Tuesday, Ferraro had won 2,998 races from 12,148 starters, a 25 percent win average. Ferraro is third in the Finger Lakes trainers’ standings with 61 wins.

Rider Daniel Vergara currently has 998 career victories. Vergara is seventh in the Finger Lakes jockeys’ standings with 59 wins.

Jockey Carol Cedeno’s career has taken a lot of twists and turns since she came to the United States from her native Puerto Rico in 2007.

She came to the United States after winning her fifth race, and officially beginning her apprenticeship, at Hipodromo Camarero. She started out at Parx Racing; had a successful stint in New York – she is 42 for 416 at Aqueduct; married fellow rider Angel Serpa, and had two children, Angelika and Dylan. In August 2013, she fractured vertebrae in a spill at Penn National, which sidelined her until last February.

Hardest Core’s journey to California for the Breeders’ Cup Turf did not turn out as planned. He ended up too close to a hot pace, took the lead five furlongs from home, and was swallowed by the pack in upper stretch.

The good news is that he came out of the race in fine shape and will race again as a 5-year-old. As a matter of fact, as a gelding, he should have a lot of racing in front of him.

Los Alamitos will host five stakes, including two Grade 1 races for juveniles, during its three-week December meeting. All five stakes are worth $200,000 or more.

All that is familiar about Del Mar will be new when the track opens its 15-day autumn meeting Friday.

Famous for its summer meeting, Del Mar has added a four-week meeting this month, replacing racing dates previously held at Hollywood Park, which closed last December. For racing fans, horsemen, track executives, and everyone else, the autumn meeting starts with questions.

Little Ms Protocol was a sweeping 3 1/4-length winner of the $100,000 Magnolia at Delta Downs last Friday night. She is now being pointed for the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies at Fair Grounds on Dec. 13, said her trainer, Patrick Devereux Jr.

The win in the Magnolia came in Little Ms Protocol’s first start since July.

“She needed the rest,” Devereux said. “We freshened her, gave her some spa days. She had a backlog. She cashed them in.”

Little Ms Protocol, an earner of more than $700,000, is owned by her breeder, Coteau Grove Farms.