With Idiomatic having all but conquered the distaff division leading her connections to entertain the idea of racing against older males, First Mission rising toward the top of the older horse division, and Hit Show a strong comeback winner of his 4-year-old debut, trainer Brad Cox already had some thinking to do about how and where to place horses in important dirt routes this summer. And after Highland Falls won the Grade 3, $275,000 Blame Stakes on Saturday at Churchill, Cox had another horse to consider for Grade 1 races at nine furlongs and beyond. The emphasis there is on “beyond.” The Blame was contested at 1 1/8 miles, which might be shorter than Highland Falls’s ideal trip. On Saturday, Highland Falls took a furlong and a half to find his full finishing stride after being asked around the far turn by jockey Florent Geroux. “He’s very steady,” Cox diplomatically said. “I think that Curlin shows up there late.” Four-year-old Highland Falls is by Curlin and out of Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Round Pond, who had produced two stakes winners, Long River and Lake Lucerne, but not a graded stakes winner. A Godolphin homebred, Highland Falls didn’t make the races until August of his 3-year-old season. His stakes debut came this winter in the Santa Anita Handicap; Highland Falls finished fourth and might have won had he reached the form that earned him a second-place Oaklawn Handicap finish and his Blame win. “Lightly raced, continuing to improve,” Cox said. Cox isn’t sure the path Highland Falls will take, but his major goal is the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup over 1 1/4 miles on Sept. 1 at Saratoga. First Mission is headed for the Stephen Foster on June 29 at Churchill, while Hit Show could have the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker as a target. This past Sunday, Cox sent the 3-year-old Arrogate colt Dragoon Guard, a Juddmonte homebred, out for his second straight win, an easy first-level allowance tally that followed a second-start Keeneland maiden win in April. In his race last weekend, Dragoon Guard led while well in hand and showed plenty of spark when challenged in upper stretch, quickly drawing clear in a one-turn mile. “I think he’s meant to be a two-turn horse. He’s a really big horse, plenty of leg, and doesn’t look like a horse who’d have speed, but he does,” Cox said. Dragoon Guard could make his next start July 19 at Saratoga in the restricted Curlin Stakes. Juddmonte, who already campaigns the best older dirt female in 5-year-old Idiomatic, now has a rising 4-year-old in the division but with trainer Bill Mott. Scylla passed a second two-turn test June 1 in the Grade 3 Shawnee Stakes, winning that 1 1/16-mile contest by 3 1/4 lengths. Scylla first tried two turns in the Doubledogdare at Keeneland and finished a well-beaten third as the favorite. Mott cut her back to a one-turn mile for a Derby Day allowance race, where Scylla romped, and added blinkers for the Shawnee. Scylla, by Tapit out of five-time Grade 1 winner Close Hatches, has run only six times and still is learning how to race. Mott credited progress in that area, as well as the equipment change, for the Shawnee victory. “A little bit of both. The blinkers put her right up in the race. I hate to see them keep getting shuffled back,” Mott said. Scylla is a possible starter June 29 in the Fleur de Lis at Churchill, though Mott said concrete plans haven’t been formed for the filly. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.