A total of 47 people working at Churchill Downs in Louisville have been told to quarantine according to CDC and local guidelines after the track completed a round of coronavirus testing on the track’s backside and frontside, according to figures provided by the track on Wednesday.

According to Darren Rogers, Churchill conducted 1,823 tests of staff and backstretch workers from Aug. 19 to Aug. 24. The 47 total positive tests represented a positivity rate of 2.83 percent, compared to an approximate average of 5 percent in Kentucky over the past month.

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will ride his final program of the current Del Mar meeting on Saturday, more than a week before the conclusion of the season on Sept. 7.

Smith was given a three-day suspension on Sunday for causing interference in the first race last Saturday. The suspension covers racing days on Sunday, Monday, and Sept. 4.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dr Post, runner-up to Tiz the Law in the Belmont Stakes and third to Authentic in the Haskell, is likely to bypass the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 and could run either in the Jim Dandy that same day at Saratoga or perhaps wait for the Preakness on Oct. 3.

Todd Pletcher trains Dr Post for Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable. Pletcher said Viola seems to be leaning more toward Dr Post taking his next shot against Tiz the Law in the Preakness.

John Lies, the television paddock commentator, will call the races for the final four days of the current Del Mar summer meeting from Sept. 4-7, the track announced on Wednesday.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After several unsuccessful attempts to go two turns, Basin will cut back to six furlongs in Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Amsterdam Stakes for 3-year-olds. It will be his first start since he was transferred from Steve Asmussen to Todd Pletcher by Jackpot Farm.

Weston, the undefeated winner of the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 9, will have a pre-dawn workout on Friday that will determine whether he starts in the Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7.

“If he works good, we’re going to go for the futurity,” trainer and co-owner Ryan Hanson said on Wednesday. “There is no pressure to run. He has to come back good.”

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The 7-year-old Sadler’s Joy appeared to get his first win of the year when he crossed the finish line first in the Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes here on Aug. 1. But the horse veered in a path on two occasions in the stretch, and the stewards deemed he caused enough interference to warrant a disqualification from first to third.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The path of Hurricane Laura as it turns toward the East Coast over the weekend could be the deciding factor as to whether Firenze Fire is in the starting gate here for Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego.

DEL MAR, Calif. – If the waiting is the hardest part, as the late Tom Petty opined, then training for this year’s Kentucky Derby has brought an unprecedented challenge.

WHO’S HOT

There have been no adjustments to the Derby Watch top 20 lineup or the odds penned by Daily Racing Form’s Marty McGee since last week. Tiz the Law remains the 6-5 favorite. Assuming his starting price will be no higher than 9-5, he will be the first horse to go off at less than 2-1 in the Derby since Point Given in 2001. The last odds-on favorite was Arazi in 1992. Entries for the Derby are to be taken Tuesday morning, and posts drawn later that morning.