Laurel Park in suburban Maryland has canceled its Friday card and put a quarantine on four barns after a horse on the grounds tested positive for equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious disease, according to the track’s top racing official.

Sal Sinatra, director of racing for Laurel, said that the horse who tested positive has been sent to a clinic and no other horses on the grounds have displayed symptoms of the virus. But “18 or 19” horses that are now under quarantine had been entered for the Friday card, necessitating the Friday cancellation, Sinatra said.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The unbeaten Concert Tour will break from post 7 in a field of eight when he makes his two-turn debut Saturday in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

The mile and a sixteenth race that was drawn Tuesday rewards its winner with 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby and anchors a 12-race card that features five stakes. First post is an earlier than usual 12 p.m. Central.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park on Tuesday announced plans to put an additional $2.5 million into overnight purses over the final eight weeks of the meet that closes May 1.

The move equates to a 15 percent purse increase and makes maiden special weight races worth $93,000; pushes high-end allowances to $110,000; and the bottom level purse value to $27,000.

It is the largest “mid-season” purse increase in the history of the track, according to a press release from Oaklawn. 

The Arlington Million has a new name and a lower purse in 2021, which, as things currently stand, could be the last year of racing at Arlington International Racecourse.

The 2021 Arlington stakes schedule, which is listed in the first condition book, includes $2.275 million in stakes purses. The richest single race is the $600,000 Mister D Stakes, which formerly was the Arlington Million. The race is named for Arlington’s chairman emeritus, Richard Duchossois, who turns 100 in 2021.

Churchill Downs will distribute $10 million in stakes purses during this year’s Kentucky Derby week, including $120,000 in a stakes race re-named for the Hall of Fame rider Isaac Murphy, the son of a former slave who won three of the early runnings of the Kentucky Derby.

PHOENIX – Jockey Glenn Corbett notched career win No. 4,000 in the fourth race Monday at Turf Paradise when he guided Arabian Story to victory.

The 55-year-old, who posted his first win at Penn National in 1985, had Arabian Story ($10.40) well back early in the six-furlong allowance/optional-claiming race, steadily advanced to the far turn, angled to the inside, rallied to take the lead by the eighth pole, and drew off to win by 2 1/4 lengths in 1:10.06. The 5-year-old gelded son of Fed Biz is owned by Terri Ferguson and trained by Chad Ferguson.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez has been suspended three racing days for causing interference that led to the disqualification of his mount in Saturday’s 11th race at Santa Anita.

Velazquez, 49, was cited for his ride on Following Sea, who bumped with Mr. Impossible on the backstretch of a maiden special weight race at six furlongs. Following Sea and Mr. Impossible finished second and third behind Defunded. Following Sea, the 9-10 favorite, was demoted from second to third after an inquiry.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Idol made his first start at Churchill Downs last September, finishing second in a maiden special weight race on the undercard of the Kentucky Derby program.

On Dec. 26, Idol was second in his stakes debut in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita, one of five stakes on the traditional opening day of the winter-spring meeting.

Saturday, Idol won the first stakes of his career in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, the track’s top race for older horses on dirt.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Only 12 fillies and mares were nominated to the highlight of the coming weekend at Gulfstream, the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie on Saturday – and easily the most accomplished on the roster, Frank’s Rockette, probably will bypass the $100,000 race to wait instead on the $250,000 Carousel on April 10 at Oaklawn Park, according to Riley Mott, assistant to his father, trainer Bill Mott.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There’s a vacuum atop the national ranks of 3-year-old fillies, and Todd Pletcher is hoping to fill it for Shadwell Stable.

Pletcher will breeze the Shadwell pair of Malathaat and Zaajel together again Saturday at his Palm Beach Downs base as the unbeaten 3-year-old fillies draw closer to their final respective qualifiers for the April 30 Kentucky Oaks. Malathaat likely goes in the March 27 Gulfstream Park Oaks, while Zaajel will be shipped out for the March 20 Fair Grounds Oaks.