SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Fierceness and Mindframe both worked out Friday morning over Saratoga’s main track, but it’s not expected the two will be seen together on the main track in the Grade 1 Whitney on Aug. 2.

Both horses are trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Mike Repole, though Mindframe also is co-owned by Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable. Pletcher has said several times he isn’t keen on running the two against each other unless he has to or it makes sense. It likely won’t make sense until the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.

Sayucan keeps stepping up her game as evidenced by her runner-up finish in the $225,000 Iowa Oaks earlier this month at Prairie Meadows. She set the pace and was just caught on the wire by a quality foe in Quickick.

Sayucan’s effort came one start after she romped by 12 lengths in an Iowa-bred sprint stakes at her base of Prairie Meadows. The Iowa Oaks was a somewhat rare two-turn start for Sayucan.

Cornishman on Friday had his first work since capturing the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap earlier this month at his base of Prairie Meadows.

He went a sharp half-mile in 46.80 seconds. It was the second fastest of 36 works at the distance at the Iowa track Friday.

Trainer Dan McFarlane said next-race plans are to be determined, but the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Cup will be considered. The 1 1/16-mile race is Aug. 3 at Mountaineer Park.

Jockey Alex Birzer has begun what will be the longest layoff of his career, but the 51-year-old is motivated to return to the saddle after being sidelined during an accident in the starting gate June 30 at Prairie Meadows.

“I’ll make a comeback,” he said Thursday. “I’m two shy from 4,000 [wins]. I’m not going to shut it down with that.”

Birzer could be out for four to six months after breaking both the tibia and fibula bones above one of his ankles. He had surgeries July 1 and July 5. The accident happened as a filly he was aboard flipped in the starting gate.

Fibber hasn’t won in more than 11 months, despite creditable efforts in stakes company. She gets a chance to break that streak when she returns to the scene of her last victory in Monday’s $150,000 Twin Bridges Stakes at Ellis Park.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – She hasn’t won in over a year and her last victory came going two turns, but make no mistake, Scylla is very much the horse to beat in Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss Stakes going six furlongs at Saratoga.

Late in the summer of 2023, the filly Factorbella made the first two starts of her career racing in Monmouth Park dirt sprints. A well-beaten third in her debut, which yielded a mere 38 Beyer Speed Figure, she ran worse second time out, finishing fifth with a 32 Beyer. But it’s her two recent Monmouth dirt sprints that suggest Factorbella can become a stakes winner Sunday in the $100,000 Regret.

Latch the Hatch, a 3-year-old gelding trained by Joe Orseno, will take on older horses in open company for the first time in a $57,000 allowance at Gulfstream Park on Sunday. It’s a new test for the improving Florida-bred runner, but he has faced tougher before and seems prepared for the 6 1/2-furlong distance.

“I think keeping him one turn and sprinting is fine,” Orseno said. “I’ve always been a believer that if a horse can get six furlongs, he’ll get 6 1/2 or seven.”

When Chuckanut Bay first entered Howie Gibson’s barn, the young trainer was pragmatic to a fault, running him in an $8,000 claiming race on May 10, which he won with ease.

That was then.

The only poor performance in Queen Maxima’s brief career occurred last September when she finished last of 10 in an allowance race at a mile on turf at Del Mar.

The loss, in her second career start, seems like a lifetime ago considering Queen Maxima has won her last three races in turf sprint stakes at Santa Anita and Churchill Downs since late February.

A winner of 6 of 9 starts, Queen Maxima has developed into a brilliant runner, making her presence in Sunday’s $100,000 Osunitas Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf all the more intriguing.