ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Jockey Joe Rocco Jr.’s first day at Arlington Park nearly turned ugly. Rocco gave General Election a fine ride in the Grade 3, $150,000 Arlington Classic, saving ground the entire trip, and coming up the fence to finish first, but before celebrations could commence, Rocco had to wait out a stewards’ inquiry and multiple objections for deep-stretch interference against fourth-place Gefest. In the end, Rocco’s number stayed up, and General Election had won the first grass start of his career.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - One could curl a couple fingers closed and still count on one hand the number of Illinois Thoroughbred owners who might step up to the plate with an $80,000 claim these days. William Stiritz, the Fairmount Park owner who runs a substantial racing string, is one of them, and when Hogy was dangled for $80,000 in an optional claimer last Nov. 1 at Hawthorne, Stiritz took him.

The investment paid off nicely Saturday at Arlington, where Hogy scored a sharp 1 1/2-length victory over Mister Marti Gras in the Grade 3, $150,000 Hanshin Cup Stakes.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Monmouth Park on Saturday felt more like Aqueduct in March than the unofficial start of the summer season the Jersey Shore.

It was a wet, dreary, cold, windy afternoon with a sloppy track, no turf racing and a slew of scratches.

The conditions helped Big Sur capture his stakes debut, a front-running effort in the $75,000 Majestic Light.

The wet track favored speed all day. Ramon F. Moya put the 5-year-old gelding on the lead for his father, trainer Ramon Moya.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dark Cove was spotting his opponents four to eight pounds Saturday in the Grade 3, $111,800 Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs. So, as the 6-year-old horse clung grimly to the lead in deep stretch of the 1 1/2-mile turf race, Mike Maker admitted to having hard feelings about the weight assignments.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Wayne Catalano stayed fairly quiet over the winter in Florida and Louisiana, and his spring in Kentucky (with a touch of Hawthorne) passed similarly. But this is Arlington – Wayne’s World – and Catalano is back in business now.

Catalano’s 10^th winner from his last 23 runners at the meet came Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Arlington Matron, where Imposing Grace outstayed a couple determined rivals to post a half-length victory over Sisterhood.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Benefitting from a race under her belt, the soft turf she relishes, and a ground-saving ride from Luis Saez, Tannery pulled off a 10-1 upset in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Sheepshead Bay Stakes at Belmont Park.

Tannery, content to lay seventh under Saez, defeated a slow-breaking Anjaz by one length. It was 1 1/4 lengths farther back to the pacesetting Minakshi in third.

Julie’s Love finished fourth and was followed by Mystical Star, Hessonite, the 9-5 favorite, Strathnaver, and Starformer.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Left alone on the lead, Obviously proved impossible to catch in Saturday’s $150,250 American Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park.

Third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita last fall, Obviously won in such fashion on Saturday that jockey Joe Talamo and trainer Mike Mitchell were dreaming of getting back to the same race this fall.

Obviously ($2.80) led by 1 1/2 lengths on the backstretch, through early fractions of 23.26 and 46.09 seconds, and pulled away in early stretch, winning by 2 1/2 lengths.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Solid Appeal ($18.60) outran the favored Irish Mission in the final furlong to notch her first stakes win Saturday at Woodbine in the Grade 2, $213,200 Nassau.

The Maryland invader Dancing to Town set quick fractions over the firm ground in the one-mile route before tiring in midstretch. Solid Appeal came wide in the stretch from a stalking position on the turn to score by 1 1/2 lengths over Irish Mission, who had closed along the rail under Alex Solis. Northern Passion rallied wide from last to end up third in the seven-horse field.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Bob Pincins still had his halter in hand. Pincins had just submitted a $50,000 claim, to no avail, for the 6-5 favorite in the fifth race Friday at Churchill Downs, a 4-year-old gelding named Fire Alarm.

Pincins referred to his program and copied “May 22” onto his claim slip. One problem: Churchill had printed the wrong date down the side of the program. Friday was May 24.

“I just put May 22 on there assuming it was right,” said Pincins. “The stewards voided my claim.”

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Fort Larned, the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, had his third workout since his disappointing run in the Oaklawn Handicap, breezing five furlongs Friday at Churchill Downs in 59.80 seconds.

Fort Larned is pointing to the June 15 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill and ultimately a return to the BC Classic at Santa Anita in early November.

“This is like a restart for the year for us,” said trainer Ian Wilkes. “We had a couple hiccups earlier this year and now we are looking to restart our year and point everything to the Breeders’ Cup.”