Amorosa will be seeking to win his fifth consecutive race Saturday night when he returns to the 3-year-old ranks for the $100,000 Iowa Breeders’ Derby at Prairie Meadows.

The 1 1/16-mile race is one of the highlights of the Iowa Classic card that closes the meet. There are eight stakes for Thoroughbreds worth a total of approximately $800,000, while the 14-race card also includes four stakes for Quarter Horses. All of the 120 runners entered for the program were bred in Iowa.

Gold Phoenix has won an unprecedented four consecutive runnings of the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap since 2022. He is a seven-time stakes winner and was fourth in the Breeders Cup Turf at Santa Anita in 2023 and at Del Mar last year.

Despite those accomplishments, there is one race that has eluded Gold Phoenix – he is winless in three appearances in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita. A 7-year-old gelding, Gold Phoenix will make his fourth consecutive appearance in the $200,000 John Henry at 1 1/4 miles on turf on Saturday.

A healthy mix of proven stakes runners and last-out maiden winners will take to the turf for the $125,000 Laurel Futurity Stakes on Saturday. Trainer Kenny McPeek will lead the way with two juvenile colts shipping to Laurel Park after victories at Colonial Downs earlier this month.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A 7-year-old racing at the Group/Grade 1 level is rare in North America and rarer still in Europe. The gelding Rebel’s Romance is that rare individual who, at 7, is still getting it done at the highest level of the sport.

ARCADIA, Calif. – As recently as late July, it was preposterous to imagine Reef Runner and Beyond Brilliant as contenders in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita.

Reef Runner was sidelined, unraced since a flat third in an allowance in early May. Beyond Brilliant had just finished ninth in his first start in two years. The Eddie D, 6 1/2 furlongs on the Santa Anita hill, was a reach.

But horses change, even seasoned veterans. Reef Runner and Beyond Brilliant both improved enough to make the unthinkable Eddie D a reality and maybe compose the exacta.

A close second in the Grade 2 Clark as a late 3-year-old last year and a good second behind Fierceness in the Grade 2 Alysheba this spring stamped Most Wanted as a horse of Grade 1 potential, but a surfeit of older dirt-route horses in the barn forced his trainer, Brad Cox, to get creative.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The aptly named Bullet returns from a one-year layoff in Saturday’s featured conditioned allowance with a $50,000 claiming option at Woodbine. The 3-year-old should be ready to roll in the six-furlong Tapeta sprint for fillies and mares.

Trained by Mark Casse for D. J. Stable, Bullet made quite a splash when debuting in the spring of 2024 in the Royal Palm Stakes at Gulfstream. After a tardy start, she made an eye-catching wide rally to win the five-furlong turf dash going away.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A low-profile turf stakes with a new name and chalky history concludes the 10-race card Saturday at Santa Anita. It’s a hillside sprint for 3-year-old fillies that always gets a big field and almost always includes a reliable favorite.

Thirteen are entered in the $100,000 John C. Harris, previously known as the Unzip Me. The stakes race was renamed this year in honor of Harris, the prominent California owner-breeder who passed away in July. Favorites have won the race five of the last six years.

Willow Case has repeatedly foiled bettors and heavy favorites alike in her brief career at Gulfstream Park, but the 2-year-old is sure to earn more respect in the $75,000 Hallandale Beach Stakes on Friday. She will be one of four juvenile fillies stretching out to a mile in the field of six.

“Willow Case is a pretty healthy mare,” trainer Ramon Minguet said. “We’ve had to wait for the right races. We’re in no hurry to race, and she’s been developing perfectly.”