SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Owner Mike Repole may not have been dreaming of having a turf horse when he spent $750,000 on a yearling filly by Not This Time at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga auction. But given the way Time to Dream performed on the grass in her debut, it appears that turf is where this filly belongs.

Wednesday, Time to Dream will try to build on her July 25 maiden score when she heads a field of eight juvenile fillies set to go 1 1/16 miles on turf in the $150,000 P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga.

Three factors contributed to Coppola being supplemented to Saturday’s Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap at Del Mar, the veteran runner’s first appearance in California.

“It’s five-eighths, firm turf, and the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Dale Romans said on Monday morning.

The $150,000 Green Flash at five furlongs is the leading turf sprint of the Del Mar summer meeting. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at five furlongs on Nov. 1.

DEL MAR, Calif. – A turf marathon at 1 3/8 miles may seem a difficult place for a comeback after a layoff of nearly seven months. But for the 5-year-old Truly Quality the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at that distance on Saturday is an ideal way to resume a career that includes three stakes wins at longer distances on grass, trainer Jonathan Thomas said over the weekend.

“I’m more comfortable running him long off a layoff than short,” Thomas said. “A mile and three-eighths is the shortest he wants to run.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Zarak the Brave’s European form made him the favorite for the Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard Handicap in 2024. His backers didn’t get much of a thrill, as Zarak the Brave fell over the second fence.

A year later, Zarak the Brave is back in the $150,000 Sheppard on Wednesday at Saratoga, where, despite his status as the co-highweight at 158 pounds, he could be overlooked at the windows in the 2 3/8-mile steeplechase.

The Sheppard is being run this week after rain forced its cancellation last Wednesday.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Turf sprints are fashionable this summer at Del Mar. Through Sunday, more than 17 percent of all races were at five furlongs on turf, the highest for a summer meet.

While the number of turf sprints is based on the horse population, handicapping subtleties change as the season unfolds. That includes a recent shift that could influence both turf sprints Thursday.

Ron Turcotte, the Hall of Fame jockey who was the regular rider of the legendary Secretariat, died on Friday at his hometown in New Brunswick, Canada, according to friends. Turcotte, who had been a paraplegic since a riding accident in 1978, was 84.

Katie M’lady has been racing so long that her first stakes win came at Arlington Park, which held its last meeting in 2021.

Katie M’lady has been racing so long that on June 24 she won a race that was named after her – the Katie M’lady.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Miguel Clement has nominated a half-dozen fillies and mares to the Grade 2 Flower Bowl here next Saturday, a Win and You’re In for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. As of Friday, he planned to run four of the six, although which four may not be determined until entries are drawn for the race on Sunday.

Trainer Gerald Bennett has a pair of 4-year-olds with different questions to answer in the $75,000 Benny the Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Sunday. El Principito could be the fastest horse in the field but has never won at seven furlongs. Life Is Precious needs to prove that he belongs at this level after suffering a respiratory infection earlier this year.

The Benny the Bull is a seven-furlong dirt race and the ninth race on the Gulfstream card. It is the second-to-last leg in the Rainbow 6, for which there will be a mandatory payout and an expected pool of $1 million.

The best New Jersey-bred of recent vintage, and surely one of the best ever, Book’em Danno was scheduled to race Saturday in the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga. A significant percentage of the New Jersey-breds of recent vintage are scheduled to race Sunday at Monmouth Park, where all 12 races are restricted to horses bred in the Garden State.