The latest from around the region:

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    • Jockey Eric Camacho, suspended by the Maryland Racing Commission after testing positive for marijuana last month, has been reinstated by that body.  He currently has no scheduled mounts.  Camacho, a Maryland native, has three wins from 14 starts this year.
    • The Maryland Stadium Authority has begun a study to determine Pimlico’s future.  The $280,000 study, requested by the Maryland Racing Commission, The first phase of the study, expected to take about a year, will analyze the current state of the Old Hilltop facility and what it would need to serve as the long-term home for the Preakness, the middle jewel of racing’s Triple Crown.  The second phase will identify options for bringing it up to snuff.  Click here for more info, from Baltimore Brew.
    • Now that’s a payoff!  Charles Town’s featured seventh race on March 10, a West Virginia-bred allowance, led to boxcar payouts.  The winner, Prized Opal, went off at 63-1 and returned $128.20 for each $2 win wager.  She was followed in the placings by Immediate Release (12.30-1), Shehasit Too (29.30-1), and Pa’s Little Sister (a mere 7.60-1).  The $2 exacta paid $1,231, and the $1 triple returned $21,597.50.
    • An incident of excessive whipping at Parx Racing has caused a furor.  Jockey Edwin Rivera, aboard last-place finisher Forgetthefantasy in a $7,500 claiming race on March 6, struck that runner repeatedly as the horse was fading from contention, with the Equibase chart calling it “what appeared to be rather excessive and severe right handed whipping.”
    • From The Racing Biz contributor Linda Dougherty, on Twitter:

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