Horse Racing News on April 16, 2010

An influential medication advisory group has recommended that U.S. racing jurisdictions significantly lower the threshold level for widely used painkillers such as phenylbutazone and Banamine, according to members of the group.

Live racing returns to Pimlico for six weeks starting Saturday with a fan-friendly program that features a ceremony honoring former general manager Chick Lang, who died last month.

At a hearing Wednesday, a New Jersey bankruptcy court judge denied Fifth Third Bank's claim that prominent Thoroughbred owner and breeder Ahmed Zayat's stable violated the terms of a cash collateral agreement.

Champion Stardom Bound, whose five consecutive Grade 1 victories included the 2008 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, has retired from the racetrack.

Trainer Tim Ice returned to the scene of his greatest successes Thursday when he arrived at Belmont Park with seven of his horses who had wintered at Oaklawn Park. Unfortunately, none of those horses was named Summer Bird.

The perfection that Tuscan Evening has displayed with three stakes wins this year has gone to her head.

In the late going of Friday's Grade 3 Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland, tire tracks from the starting gate posed more of a challenge to victorious Haka than her four opponents.

Gone Astray had quite a lucrative 3-year-old campaign avoiding the heavyweights of the division, banking nearly $800,000. The bulk of that bankroll came from his 9 1/4-length victory in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby.

Trainer Marty Wolfson said he took away Matchless Orinda's most potent weapon -- her speed -- when he attempted to stretch her out to a mile in the Grade 3 Sabin Stakes at Gulfstream in February.

Sweet Goodbye, riding a three-race winning streak that includes the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap, already was a solid contender in Saturday night's $250,000 Sugar Maple Stakes at Charles Town.