LEXINGTON, Ky. – Barnes, a graded stakes winner earlier this season, and Grade 1 winner Gaming, perhaps getting back to his best distance, have been sent to Keeneland by trainer Bob Baffert for Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Perryville Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs. But both stablemates – Barnes, in particular – have turned in some puzzling efforts, meaning there might be room to look elsewhere in a small field.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Saturday’s Grade 3 Ontario Derby at Woodbine will be the rubber match between Mansetti and Runaway Again, and the 1 1/8-mile Tapeta event could help determine Canadian champion male 3-year-old honors.

Mansetti won the opening leg of the Canadian Triple Crown in front-running style in August, the $1 million King’s Plate, while leaving the inexperienced Runaway Again well behind in 10th.

Iron Orchard and Percy’s Bar are both being pointed to the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 31 at Del Mar, according to their respective trainers.

Iron Orchard won the Frizette on Oct. 4 at Aqueduct to remain unbeaten in three career starts, while Percy’s Bar finished first in the Alcibiades on Oct. 3 at Keeneland but was disqualified for interference and placed second to the elevated Tommy Jo.

Iron Orchard is based at Saratoga. She was winning her second stakes – and first start against open company – in the one-turn Frizette.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A year ago, trainer Michael Yates swept the open division of the Florida Sire Series with the undefeated and relatively untested Rated by Merit, who won the six-furlong Dr. Fager, seven-furlong Affirmed, and 1 1/16-mile In Reality by a combined 16 lengths while an overwhelming favorite in each race.

Sweet Azteca had to overcome a minor setback at the end of September that cost her a scheduled workout, but the 5-year-old mare returned to her usual regimen on Oct. 11 and remains firmly on track for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

“She had a slight temperature, but the blood was good,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “I think it was a small virus or something. I really couldn’t pinpoint it. Missed a few days and a work, but she’s healthy now.”

From Doncaster, England, to Shelbyville, Indiana, they come from far and wide for the featured ninth race Friday at Keeneland.

The 10 entrants who form the main body of this second-level turf sprint allowance last raced at seven different venues. And it’s this kind of disparate form – horses coming from all over the place – that can make the short Keeneland meetings such a handicapping challenge.

Trainer Kenny McPeek said Wednesday he is hopeful jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. will be able to be back aboard Mystik Dan for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

Hernandez was unable to team with the Kentucky Derby winner last month, when Mystik Dan won the Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs, because he was rehabbing from injuries he sustained in a spill a week earlier. Hernandez broke seven ribs, punctured a lung, and suffered a small laceration to his liver.

A horse intended for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar has raced six times on the Del Mar grass course and never lost. That horse, just a 4-year-old, has won multiple Grade 1s, has an overall mark of 8 for 14 on turf, and since his trainer began racing him without blinkers four starts ago has three wins and an unlucky fourth.

Gezora was 13th in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Oct. 5, a loss trainer Francis-Henri Graffard is eager to forget.

“She found herself really far back, which was impossible in the Arc,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Best known for winning the Group 1 French Oaks in June, Gezora’s season is not over. She is scheduled to race outside of Europe for the first time in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

Tawny Port thrives on activity. That was evident in a five-week period from late August to early October, when Tawny Port finished second in three rich stakes at Kentucky Downs and Woodbine.

The efforts have convinced Peachtree Stable and trainer Miguel Clement to plan a start for Tawny Port in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1.

“The last five weeks, he’s run three terrific races,” Clement said on Wednesday. “It gives us confidence.”