Horse Racing News on December 22, 2017

It might have been a surprise to most of the experts when Luis Saez unseated five-time reigning Gulfstream Park riding champion Javier Castellano to win the 2016-17 Championship meet jockey title.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said that Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming shipped back into his barn on Wednesday and galloped for the first time at Palm Beach Downs on Thursday.

The four graded stakes races being presented on Tuesday at Santa Anita Park all look toward goals of 2018, rather than embellishments of sad old '17.

Bolt d'Oro has been taking it fairly easy since the Breeders' Cup, but soon he and the rest of the 3-year-old class of 2018 at Santa Anita will begin their serious preparations toward the May 5 Kentucky Derby.

Of all the top-caliber stakes horses Jorge Navarro has trained over the past several years, none has meant more to him than the speedy but fragile X Y Jet, who launches his latest comeback against nine rivals in Saturday's $100,000 Mr. Prospector.