The trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. won a career-best 35 stakes races during 2024, doubling his 2023 total. He has 33 stakes wins this year and the better part of two months to find three more and surpass last year’s mark. A plurality of bettors will guess Joseph gets No. 34 when he runs R Disaster as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the $300,000 Dream Supreme Stakes.

Joseph began starting horses at Churchill in 2020 and has accumulated 23 winners. He’s 2 for 2 at this meet and has won with three of his last four Churchill runners.

Way to Be Marie is the new female turf marathoner on the block Saturday in a well-matched edition of the Grade 3, $250,000 Long Island Stakes at Aqueduct.

She will be making her first start at three turns in the 1 3/8-mile race for fillies and mares on the inner turf. A field of 10 is set to start, including multiple Group 1 winner Beach Bomb, Grade 2 winner Grayosh, Group 3 winner Immensitude, and fellow stakes winners No Show Sammy Jo, Brocknardini, and Fun With Flags.

Chasing the Crown finished a closing, troubled third as a 64-1 shot last January in the Pegasus World Cup Turf. A half-year passed before he showed that was no fluke.

Making his first post-Pegasus start, Chasing the Crown captured a $500,000 handicap Aug. 30 at Kentucky Downs, his 100 Beyer Speed Figure equaling his Pegasus career-best. Trainer Mike Maker a week later named the 2026 Pegasus as a major objective, but first Chasing the Crown starts as the favorite Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3, $300,000 River City Stakes.

Steppe, a 3-year-old gelding trained by Bobby Dibona, will have a prime opportunity to return to his winning ways in the $70,000 Awesome Banner Handicap on Saturday at Gulfstream Park. Since Dibona claimed him for $50,000 in February, he has not finished worse than second in five starts.

“I took my time with him, gelded him, and did a couple little things,” Dibona said. “He just seems to be getting better and better. [Jockey Miguel Vazquez] thinks he’s super good. Coming back with straight 3-year-olds, it looks like a really good spot.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Stars and Strides, not to be confused with Stars and Stripes from the same barn who runs earlier on Saturday’s Aqueduct card, has run well on dirt and turf. His Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has no qualms declaring what the 3-year-old colt’s preferred surface.

“He’s turf,” Mott said. “He displayed that in his second race.”

In his second race, Stars and Strides came with a strong rally along the inside under Junior Alvarado to win the Saranac Stakes on closing day at Saratoga, his second win from two turf tries.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Disco Time will put his unbeaten record on the line Saturday against the streaking pair of Tip Top Thomas and Stars and Stripes in an intriguing renewal of the $200,000 Dwyer Stakes, which could produce a significant player for the older male dirt division in 2026.

The Dwyer, typically run in July, was moved to the fall and is the second of two 3-year-old stakes going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct. The Discovery, previously run at 1 1/8 miles in November, was run in October and won by Rated by Mertit, who is targeting the Grade 2 Cigar Mile on Dec. 6.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When the connections of Drexel Hill had to stop on their 3-year-old filly due to a knee chip following her runner-up finish in the Kentucky Oaks in May, the intent was to bring her back for a 4-year-old campaign.

But the daughter of Bolt d’Oro got herself ready sooner, thus Drexel Hill will return to the races Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes at Aqueduct. The Mother Goose, for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles, is the richest of five stakes on a 10-race card that begins at 11:40 a.m.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Surface and distance make no difference to Man O Rose. The veteran gelding does it all – dirt, turf, short, and long. Does he even have a preference?

“No,” trainer Jeff Mullins said, as long as he is in the right spot. “Just Cal-breds.”

Man O Rose, fresh off stakes victories in a dirt route and turf sprint, can tighten his grip on the California-bred division Saturday at Del Mar. Man O Rose is the 8-5 program favorite in the The Chosen Vron Stakes, a seven-furlong stakes race previously called the Cary Grant, and also the On Trust.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The career of 2024 King’s Plate winner Caitlinhergrtness is winding down. She makes her final Woodbine start in Saturday’s Bessarabian, one of three Grade 3, $150,000 stakes on the card, along with the Autumn and Maple Leaf.

Canada’s champion 3-year-old filly in 2024, Caitlinhergrtness has won two 1 1/16-mile Tapeta stakes in six starts this year, the Belle Mahone and Ontario Matron. Trainer Kevin Attard nominated her to all three Saturday stakes and said he opted for the seven-furlong Bessarabian over the 1 1/4-mile Maple Leaf because of the distance.