2015 was undoubtedly the Year of the Pharoah, but California Chrome reminded horse players and racing fans January 9 at Santa Anita that there’s still a major horse with major credentials to follow in 2016 despite the retirement of a Triple Crown winner. 
On Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, the featured race is the $100,000 Turf Dash Stakes. The stakes race will be contested at five furlongs on the turf and has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings. 
On Saturday at Aqueduct, the featured race is the $200,000 Jerome Stakes. Restricted to newly-turned three-year-olds, the Grade 3 event will be run at a mile and seventy yards and has drawn a field of nine colts and geldings. 
On Saturday at Aqueduct, the track will host the $100,000 Damon Runyon Stakes. Restricted to two-year-olds foaled in New York, the race will be contested at a mile and seventy yards and has drawn a field of six colts and geldings. 
A full card of stakes racing December 12 at Fair Grounds kicks off Louisiana Champions Day in race 4 with the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies as a field of six is set to contest the mile and one sixteenth event on the main track. 
On Saturday at Los Alamitos, the featured race is the $300,000 Starlet Stakes. A Grade 1 race for two-year-old fillies scheduled to be run at a mile and a sixteenth, the stakes has drawn a field of nine. 
It was announced on Thursday afternoon that champion Shared Belief had been euthanized following colic surgery. The four-year-old gelding had been in training for his comeback after fracturing his pelvis in April. 
The Grade 3 $100,000 Commonwealth Turf might play second-fiddle to the Grade 1 Clark Handicap immediately following the race, but bettors may find former race a more enticing wagering event. 
On Saturday at Delta Downs, the track will host the $400,000 Delta Downs Princess Stakes. The Grade 3 event, won last year but juvenile champion Take Charge Brandi, will be contested at one mile and has drawn a field of seven two-year-old fillies.