BALTIMORE – Authentic and Art Collector got a feel for the Pimlico track Wednesday morning for the first time as the days dwindle down toward the 145th Preakness.

A New Jersey state budget passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Phil Murphy includes $15 million in subsidies for the state’s harness and Thoroughbred industries, down $5 million from the total outlay in the two years preceding.

New Jersey racing officials expressed satisfaction that the $15 million subsidy was inserted into the final budget bill, given that a preliminary budget submitted by Gov. Murphy to the legislature earlier in the year did not include any money for the horse industry at all.

Brian Hernandez Jr. is usually in the right spot, but on Kentucky Derby Day, through no fault of his own, he had a tough trip. Earlier in the week, his Derby mount, Art Collector, had to be scratched from the race with a minor hoof injury, depriving Hernandez of what would have been his best chance yet to win the Derby.

Indiana Grand officials on Tuesday decided that all assigned weights at the track will increase by three pounds to deal with issues raised by jockeys related to coronavirus protocols, the officials said.

BALTIMORE – It was a $5,000 maiden-claiming sprint on a forlorn Friday afternoon at Beulah Park in March 1998, and Tommy Drury was rooting for a horse as if there was no tomorrow.

“A friend of mine drove up with me that day,” Drury can recall, “and we screamed like crazy people from the sixteenth pole home.”

Saddle Me Up Clint, an 18-1 shot, was up in the last jump to become Drury’s first winner as a trainer in nearly 2 1/2 years. His most recent prior win had come in November 1995.

“Those were some tough times,” Drury said. “Real tough.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Il Malocchio won the fastest of the three wildly run 7 1/2-furlong inner turf races for 2-year-olds on Sunday at Woodbine, taking her maiden victory in the $100,000 Victorian Queen Stakes for fillies.

Trained by Marty Drexler, Il Malocchio gave owner-breeder Frank Meli his first stakes victory. She was Meli’s second juvenile winner at the meet, after the quirky Nero Davola.

Delta Downs in Vinton, La., has announced its Thoroughbred meet could start in late November as it continues repairing damage caused by Hurricane Laura.

Delta had been scheduled to open Oct. 6 and race for 84 dates through Feb. 27. But officials had to postpone the meet indefinitely after the Aug. 27 hurricane, which took out the track’s tote board, upended a starting gate, downed power lines, and left a large amount of debris in the stable area.

Win Win Win, who splashed his way from last to first to win the Grade 1 Forego Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 29, has been retired from racing due to a tendon injury to his right foreleg, his connections announced on Monday.

Stallion plans were pending according to a press release.

Trainer Mike Trombetta said Monday that Win Win Win showed heat and inflammation in his right foreleg over the weekend and that he told owner/breeder Charlotte Weber that generally means an injured tendon. Weber races under the Live Oak Plantation banner.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Last year, trainer Chad Brown grappled with the decision to run Bricks and Mortar in the Breeders’ Cup Turf or Mile. He eventually chose the Turf and was rewarded when Bricks and Mortar captured that race to complete a perfect season and win Horse of the Year honors.

He has a similar decision to make with Digital Age, recent winner of the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs.

ELMONT, N.Y. – After warm and dry conditions dominated the majority of the month at Belmont Park, some rain and cooler temperatures are forecast to end September and usher in October. On that front, the timing couldn’t be better for trainer Bill Mott, at least as far as his three-time Grade 1 winner Channel Maker is concerned.

When Channel Maker runs in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, Mott would certainly like to see the Belmont turf course less firm than it has been for the first two weeks of the meet, when firm ground led to some really quick times.