ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Matador was scratched out of Sunday's Marine Stakes and should be heavily favored in a first-level optional claimer on Wednesday’s first night card of the meet.

“We’ve been running him against the heavyweights all winter long, and his confidence has to be on the low side,” trainer Mark Casse said. “I thought our best chance to have a shot at the Queen’s Plate is to have this horse get some confidence.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After settling off the pace with a ground-saving trip, Solid Appeal came with a strong run down the center of the turf course to capture the Grade 2, $213,600 Nassau Stakes for the second consecutive year Sunday.

Jockey Jesse Campbell had Solid Appeal closer to the pace than trainer Reade Baker expected, but Baker noted that the pace was fast.

“I thought Jesse rode her great,” he said. “She loves the Woodbine turf course.”

Candy Boy, 13th in the Kentucky Derby on May 3, will skip the Belmont Stakes on June 7 in favor of the $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby on July 5, trainer John Sadler said Monday.

“We’re skipping it,” Sadler said of the Belmont.

Sadler said a lucrative local race, and a chance to avoid Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner California Chrome, were factors in the decision. Candy Boy was third to California Chrome in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5.

“If we ran our best race, we would have been second,” Sadler said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable had her first breeze since her 4 1/2-length romp in the May 2 filly classic when going five furlongs in 1:01.40 early Monday over a fast track at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Steve Asmussen said afterward he is extremely pleased with how Untapable has trained since her Oaks victory, and that although the upcoming Acorn Stakes was considered for the filly, “there’s a lot left on the table for her this year.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Fire With Fire’s win in Saturday’s Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at Santa Anita has made the 6-year-old the clear leader in the California marathon turf division.

While the division does not feature a strong roster, Fire With Fire is clearly in the best season of his career – and at a perfect time for Neil Drysdale.

Fort Erie Race Track will begin its 117th season of live racing Tuesday afternoon, kicking off a 37-day meet that runs through Sept. 30.

While the track has been fighting for survival the past few years, the mood is much different ahead of this season after Fort Erie reached a three-year deal with the Ontario government this winter for racing dates.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The main track at Santa Anita will be renovated in summer, several months before the track hosts the Breeders’ Cup races for the third consecutive year on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

The track made the announcement in a statement released on Friday.

In early July, following the closure of the barn area for a six-week period coinciding with the Del Mar summer meeting, the existing surface will be replaced with a locally based soil, known as El Segundo sand, according to track superintendent Dennis Moore.

Del Mar is expanding its purse incentive program for out-of-state horses at its upcoming summer meeting to include horses who start in the final three weeks of the current Santa Anita spring-summer meeting or the two-week meeting at Los Alamitos in early July.

During the Del Mar meeting, all runners who have not started in California in 2014 (not including first-time starters) will receive a $1,000 appearance fee. In addition, such horses who earn purse money in overnight races at Del Mar will receive a 33 percent bonus.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Big Macher, the winner of two sprint stakes this year, has resumed training after being vanned of following a workout May 10, trainer Richard Baltas said.

Baltas said the 4-year-old Big Macher has a blind quarter crack – a hoof crack that can’t yet be seen – and that the gelding is only jogging. Big Macher has been fitted with a Z-bar shoe that takes pressure off the tender part of the foot, Baltas said.

Baltas said Big Macher is unlikely to resume racing until the Del Mar summer meeting, which runs July 17 to Sept. 3.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Amazombie, the champion sprinter of 2011, has been retired.

Trainer Bill Spawr said Thursday that the 8-year-old Amazombie was scheduled to leave his stable at Santa Anita on Friday for a local farm, and that a yearlong attempt at a comeback had been abandoned.