Backtalk stumbled out of the gate but charged past Flater Than Me and won by a length Saturday in the $110,500 Bashford Manor Stakes for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs.

Two days after Arkansas Derby winner Papa Clem arrived at Monmouth Park for next month's Haskell Invitational. Belmont Stakes champ Summer Bird settled into his stall at the Jersey shore track.

Retired jockey Shane Sellers begins his return to the races tonight (Thursday) at Evangeline Downs in Louisiana. Sellers has been away from racing for 4 1/2 years due to a serious knee injury.

A federal bankruptcy judge has closed the case of the Jockeys' Guild, ending the long-running court supervision of the riders' trade association.

The union of jockey Calvin Borel and Kentucky Derby champ Mine That Bird has come to an end. Borel has decided not to ride the three-year-old in the West Virginia Derby.

Arkansas Derby winner Papa Clem is on the grounds at Monmouth Park to begin his preparation for the track's signature event, the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Sunday, August 2. The colt arrived early Wednesday morning from California.

Following a one year absence the $300,000 Frank J. De Francis Dash is returning to the racing schedule at Laurel Park. The Maryland Jockey Club and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association have agreed to the live racing dates and stakes schedule for the remainder of 2009 in Maryland.

This past Saturday the top two distaff thoroughbreds in training each took to the track in competition within minutes of each other. That will probably be the closest the two females get to racing against one another.

Four-time Olympic show jumper Michael Whitaker has been suspended after his horse failed a drug test.

Zenyatta improved her record to 11-0 Saturday, coming from off the pace to win the $300,000 Vanity Handicap by 2 1/2 lengths at Hollywood Park.

The country's top two female thoroughbreds, Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta, each took to the track Saturday on opposite ends of the United States, minutes apart.

Rachel Alexandra may need to run against the boys just to find some competition.

Jess Jackson wasn't sure how much Rachel Alexandra's stirring victory against the boys in the Preakness took out of her, so he wound up keeping the superstar filly out of the Belmont Stakes.

Jess Jackson, majority owner of Preakness Stakes winner Rachel Alexandra, indicated Wednesday that he has no interest in running his filly in this year's Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park. Santa Anita has a synthetic main track, which Jackson has no love for,

Leading three-year-old filly Rachel Alexandra, heads a field of five females for Saturday's $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park. The three-year-old fillies will fight it out over 1 1/8 miles on Belmont's main track.

The co-owner of Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra doesn't plan to run the star filly in the Breeders' Cup, preventing a potential matchup with champion mare Zenyatta on the synthetic surface at Santa Anita.

Monmouth Park based three-year-old colts are continuing their preparations for the track's signature event, the $1 million Haskell Invitational on August 2.

Isabell Werth of Germany, a multiple Olympic dressage gold medalist, has been suspended after her horse tested positive for a banned substance.

Preakness-winning filly Rachel Alexandra has arrived at Belmont Park for Saturday's Grade I, $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

NEWARK, N.J. - Broadway Kevin waited in the auction holding pen, a successful harness horse whose life was now worth less than the cost to take care of him.

Preakness-winning filly Rachel Alexandra has put in a final workout before her next start in Saturday's Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge has added more races to its program of automatic qualifiers, bringing the total to 62 races in which the winner clinches a berth in the Breeders' Cup Championships in November.

A total of 62 races have been scheduled as part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" program for this year. Racetracks in seven countries will participate in the program where winners of designated races gain automatic entry into Breeders' Cup races.

Eye Of The Leopard took the lead in the deep stretch and went on to win the 150th running of the Queen's Plate thoroughbred race on Sunday.