The $100,000 Tenacious Stakes feels like a stepping-stone for Just a Touch. Connections long have harbored Grade 1 ambitions for the 4-year-old colt. The Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup awaits next month, the Grade 1, $20 million Saudi Cup in February. Brad Cox, Just a Touch’s trainer, pumps the brakes on post-Tenacious considerations.

“He needs to step up and win a stakes race to start,” Cox said. “Then we can kind of see where we are.”

The eight 2-year-olds entered in the 1 1/16-mile Gun Runner qualify for an entry-level allowance. Only Crown the Buckeye has more than one win, and his Ohio-bred races wouldn’t count against allowance eligibility.

Two things the $100,000 Gun Runner offers that an allowance doesn’t: a trophy and Kentucky Derby qualifying points distributed 10,5,3,2, and 1 to the first five finishers.

Aussie Girl can be a dangerous mare in Saturday’s $150,000 Suwannee River Stakes at Gulfstream Park, provided she maintains a patient style in the first half of the one-mile turf race for fillies and mares.

That is trainer William Walden’s perspective on Aussie Girl’s chances after reflecting on her win in the Noble Damsel Stakes at a mile on turf at Aqueduct on Oct. 19. Aussie Girl, who was ridden by Dylan Davis, won with a stalking trip even though she was eager at times.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Major Dude, who is back to defend his title, and the steadily improving Cugino, coming off a game victory in the Grade 2 Red Smith, head a well-matched field of 10 grass specialists hoping to earn an invitation to the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf on Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale Stakes. The Fort Lauderdale is scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf, and goes as the finale on the 11-race card.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Skippylongstocking will be both the center of attention and biggest question mark Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $150,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes. The 1 1/16-mile fixture serves as the final local prep for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 24.

Skippylongstocking has earned nearly $3.7 million in a magnificently managed career during which he has won 11 races, eight of those victories coming in graded stakes.

The $125,000 Florence Stakes, a new addition to Turfway Park’s stakes schedule, kicks off a big weekend of racing at the Florence, Ky., track on Saturday night.

The Florence, for fillies and mares going 1 1/4 miles on Tapeta, precedes a rare Sunday card at Turfway that features four Synthetic Championship stakes worth a combined $1 million. That program, originally scheduled for last Saturday, was shifted to Sunday afternoon, typically a dark day, after winter weather forced its cancellation. Saturday’s first post is 5:55 p.m., while Sunday’s card begins at 3 p.m.

There have been a handful of horses who have traveled to the Middle East for races after running at Oaklawn Park, and Rattle N Roll could follow the lead of Mystic Guide, Gun Runner, and Skelly based on how he performs Saturday in the $150,000 Tinsel Stakes.

The Tinsel, for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles, drew a field of seven that includes Grade 3 winner Money Supply, 2025 Prince of Wales winner Runaway Again, and stakes winners Dimatic and Willy D’s.

Skelly, who has been one of the most prolific sprinters to compete at Oaklawn Park, has been retired, it was announced by a representative of the owners on social media. Skelly finished a troubled fifth in Saturday’s $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes.

Skelly is a 6-year-old gelding by Practical Joke who retires with a record of 12 wins from 25 starts for earnings of $2,018,963.

Banishing, who is nearing $2 million in earnings following his runner-up finish in the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn, will likely compete in some of the same local stakes races he did last season in Hot Springs, trainer David Jacobson said.

Banishing, in the Ring the Bell, was making his first start since a troubled 12th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.