Gulfstream Park's 2013-14 championship meet, which began Dec. 1, ended last Sunday with total live handle ontrack at almost $50 million and all-sources handle at $691 million. Both figures were down slightly from the previous season, although, as Gulfstream Park president Tim Ritvo noted, the track ran 55 fewer races in December than at the previous meet and 35 fewer turf races overall during the meet than in 2012-13. Gulfstream also raced in direct competition with neighboring Calder for the first time.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has been keeping his eyes firmly affixed on the Kentucky Derby qualifying point standings ever since his Cairo Prince finished fourth in the $1 million Florida Derby. As a result of that race, Cairo Prince’s Kentucky Derby status is precarious heading into the two final two major Derby preps Saturday, the Blue Grass Stakes and Arkansas Derby.

Betting on races at the 2013–14 Fair Grounds meeting that ended March 30 declined by more than 12 percent from the 2012–13 season. A disappointing final tally came as no surprise since Fair Grounds twice had to cut purses during the racing season to keep from overpaying purses.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Marcus Vitali won a graded race for the first time in a 25-year training career when he sent out Lochte to an $80.60 stunner in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Handicap on Feb. 9, Donn Day at Gulfstream.

The tote board might not necessarily agree, but if Lochte can beat Wise Dan in the Grade  1 Maker’s 46 Mile on Friday at Keeneland, that might qualify as an even bigger surprise. Lochte is listed as the co-third-choice at 6-1 behind Wise Dan (2-5), the reigning two-time Horse of the Year, in the Maker’s 46.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Dale Romans hangs around enough horseplayers to know the nuances of the tote board, which is one reason the veteran trainer will be running Medal Count back on just seven days’ rest in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday.

“He’s the second choice,” said Romans, referring to a morning line that lists Medal Count at 9-2, behind only Bobby’s Kitten (3-1) on the Keeneland program. “That’s enough right there to run.”

Kobe’s Back, a fast-closing third as the 6-5 favorite in the $300,000 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct last Saturday, will be pointed for sprint stakes in California in the coming months, trainer John Sadler said.

Sadler said Kobe’s Back will make his next start in the $100,000 Lazaro Barrera Stakes for 3-year-olds over seven furlongs May 10.

“He’ll get five weeks or so,” Sadler said. “We’ll wait for Del Mar to take on the older horses.”

Tom’s Tribute will stay in turf miles at Santa Anita this spring after winning Sunday’s $79,750 Thunder Road Stakes over that distance in 1:31.78, a time that equaled Wise Dan’s course record set in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Trainer Jim Cassidy said Wednesday that he has picked two races for Tom’s Tribute – the $100,000 American Stakes on May 17 and the $400,000 Shoemaker Mile on June 14. The Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile will be the top race of the spring for turf-milers in California.

CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome jogged a mile Wednesday at Los Alamitos, his first day of training since a comprehensive win in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby last Saturday.

Judging by California Chrome’s behavior Wednesday, the Santa Anita Derby did not take its toll on the red-hot 3-year-old, who will make his next start May 3 in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

“He was full of himself,” trainer Art Sherman said. “He was ready to do something. He was bucking and playing. I was happy with the way he came out of the race.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Don Grisham, the 83-year-old retired Daily Racing Form columnist who makes his home near Oaklawn Park, is improving after suffering a major stroke March 27. His wife, Iris, said he has been moved from a Little Rock, Ark., hospital to Lake Hamilton Health and Rehab near his home in Hot Springs.

“He’s much more alert today than he’s been at any time,” she said Tuesday. “He’s talking and wanting to call his friends. I’m excited that he’s improved as much as he has today. He still can’t move his left arm or leg, but he’s sat up since 11 a.m.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Harold and Jessie Ladouceur were in the midst of a difficult season when an injured filly attracted their attention at the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society’s Canadian-bred September yearling sale at Woodbine in 2012.

“She was strong, had good bone, and something about her caught my eye,” trainer Harold Ladouceur, 47, said. “My wife and I had looked at her two or three times, and we kept going back to look at her. She had a great, big splint on her left front cannon bone, but I wasn’t too worried about it.”