Horse Racing News on June 3, 2010

Jim Gaffney Sr., the regular exercise rider of champion Thoroughbreds Secretariat and Riva Ridge, died on Thursday from pneumonia. He was 75.

A thick blanket of fog enveloped Belmont Park on Thursday morning, but as the morning wore on, it lifted, a fitting symbol of what has transpired with the New York Racing Association as its signature event, the Belmont Stakes, neared.

Last year's champion 3-year-old and Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird has been retired due to a hairline fracture, according to his owner and breeder, Dr. Kalarikkal Jayaraman.