Trainer Marvin Johnson notched his 2,000th career win April 19 when Fudge Proud, a 6-year-old Proud Citizen gelding he co-owns with Seven Arms Stable, scored a one-mile allowance victory at Fonner Park.

After posting a pair of wins at Fair Grounds this year, Shakopee Town made her Woodbine debut a winning one in the Whimsical Stakes Presented by Irish Thoroughbred Marketing (G3) for older fillies and mares.

A change in surfaces from one month to the next resulted in an all-out rout April 20 by Cistron in the $200,000 Kona Gold Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park.

Making the 40th start of his career April 20 at Keeneland, the 8-year-old Badge of Silver gelding took home the $250,000 Dixiana Elkhorn Stakes (G2T) with a perfectly timed run under Tyler Gaffalione.

Santa Anita Park and the Thoroughbred Owners of California will increase purses for all non-stakes races through the next six weeks, the track announced April 20.

William S. Farish’s homebred Code of Honor closed the major Keeneland portion of his preparation for the May 4 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) by working five furlongs in 1:01 over a sloppy surface April 20 at the Lexington track.

Step Ahead Thoroughbred Retirement, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit that rehabilitates, retrains and rehomes retired Thoroughbred racehorses in the Tampa Bay area, has been awarded the use of an Exmark Lazer Z X-Series mower for the 2019 mowing season. 

Each Saturday NTRA and BloodHorse will provide a one-stop guide to the day’s top stakes races in North America and beyond. Races are listed in chronological order (all times Eastern) and links to full previews are provided.

Stonestreet Stables homebred Electric Forest earned her first stakes victory over a sloppy track in Keeneland’s Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares in her season debut.

When the Ocala Breeders’ Sales’s Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training takes place next week, Eugene Sipus Jr. and his wife Kristin will be taking a shot that their one-horse consignment will stand out in the 1,221-horse catalog.

Richard Ravin’s Maven became Triple Crown winner American Pharoah’s first North American winner as the 2-year-old colt posted a half-length victory for trainer Wesley Ward in the April 19 opening race at Aqueduct Racetrack. 

Gary Barber’s War of Will breezed five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 over a sealed muddy surface at Keeneland April 19 when the track opened at 5:30 a.m.

The Breeders’ Cup, one of Thoroughbred horse racing’s most prestigious international events, today debuts the logo for the 2020 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, which will take place on Nov. 6 & 7 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington.

With the 3-year-old preps in the books and Easter and Passover being celebrated this weekend, the stakes schedule for Saturday, April 20 is somewhat scattered.

Laki, second in last year’s MATCH Series overall standings, is one of eight horses entered in Saturday’s Frank Whiteley Jr. Stakes, one of four $100,000 stakes that get the series started at Laurel. 

Gary Barber’s Wonder Gadot took home Canadian Horse of the Year honors and the award for champion 3-year-old filly April 18, when The Jockey Club of Canada hosted its 44th annual Sovereign Awards ceremony at Vaughan’s Chateau Le Jardin.

During the trial run, the game is offered every day Keeneland races during its spring meet April 4-26 and a featured race generates the winning combination.