Trainer Phil Gleaves returned to his native England earlier this month following the death of his father, but he’ll be back in Miami to saddle his top handicap performer, Csaba, in Saturday’s $75,000 Memorial Day Handicap.

Csaba has been idle since having his four-race winning streak snapped when finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on Feb. 9. Gleaves had planned on blowing out Csaba for the Memorial Day Handicap on Tuesday, but was forced to scrap those plans after the track was inundated by rain the previous day and throughout the night.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Handicapping puzzles will be solved Thursday at Betfair Hollywood Park, where key starters throughout the card will be attempting something new – to launch careers, switch surfaces, change distances, and return from layoffs.

Well-regarded juveniles debut in race 2, a probable winner in race 3 will try grass, and the pacesetter in race 5 – Sweet Assay – has never run two turns. In race 7, juvenile graded stakes winners from last year try to resurrect their careers.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The gelding at the center of a rescinded claim because of unsoundness at Betfair Hollywood Park last Sunday emerged from the race without injury, trainer Bill Spawr said on Tuesday.

Plenny of Henny won Sunday’s first race and was claimed for $10,000 from Spawr by trainer Ted H. West. When Plenny of Henny was ruled to be unsound in the backstretch test barn after the race by state veterinarian Tim Grande, the claim was rescinded through a new rule enacted on May 16 by the California Horse Racing Board.

2013 Racing Dates

June 1 - November 2

Post Time: 12:45 p.m. ET (Mon, Wed, Sat thru 7/6; Tuesdays added after thru Oct. 5)

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2013 Stakes Schedule

Horses competing in the June 8 Belmont Stakes will be subject to out-of-competition blood testing and 24-hour security beginning three days before the race, but will be allowed to remain in their own barn as part of security measures announced Tuesday by racing authorities.

It’s important for trainers to have a Plan B just in case Plan A doesn’t work out.

Trainer Billy Morey had to fall back on Plan B with Positive Response, and he’s feeling confident going into Monday’s Grade 3, $100,000 All American at 1 1/16 miles over the Golden Gate Fields Tapeta main track.

Positive Response is the sorta-kinda defending champ. He was first under the wire in last year’s Memorial Day stakes, the Berkeley. But he was disqualified and placed fourth.

Trainer Steve Sherman had a pair of winners last week – one with a former claimer and the other with a current claimer.

Justalittleloopy, who has five victories and has hit the board in all 10 career starts, scored a nice win in a $62,500 optional claimer on Friday, while Elizabeth A scored her third straight win and fifth in her past six starts on Saturday.
Justalittleloopy began her career in a bottom-level $8,000 maiden claimer.

“She’s definitely an overachiever,” said Sherman. “She tries her butt off every single time.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If every week was like the last one, life would be very easy indeed for Ron Moquett. Moquett won four races last week, including a pair of high-end allowances at Churchill.

“I love when a plan comes together,” said Moquett, 41.

Livi Makenzie won a third-level allowance Thursday, Gentlemen’s Bet won a third-level allowance Friday, and Graceful Rage won a maiden special weight race Sunday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The 16-year-old Hidden Assets has been an outstanding asset in the Klein family broodmare band as the producer of stakes winners Due Date, Country Day, and Good Deed. Her youngest foal to race, a 3-year-old filly named Crazy Lucky, has yet to reach those heights, but all she might need is a little more time.

Steve Margolis, the primary trainer for the Louisville banking family of Bert, Elaine, and Richard Klein, said he believes Crazy Lucky is progressing steadily and rates a decent chance to join her siblings someday.

MIAMI – After finishing third, just a nose shy of second, in the 2012 Smile Sprint Handicap with Close It Out, trainer Steve Towne is looking forward to getting his star sprinter back to the Grade 2 fixture on Summit of Speed Day here this summer.