The connections of Herchee entered their horse in a May 29 allowance race at Churchill Downs and in the Arlington Stakes two days later. Though Herchee stacked up decently in the Arlington, the allowance looked like the better spot. In the end, Herchee didn’t run at all.

To trainer Helen Pitts’s disappointment, regulatory veterinarians scratched Herchee from the allowance race, which also prevented him from starting in the Arlington, and while Pitts has found another allowance for Herchee, the featured fourth race Thursday, it might not come at Herchee’s best distance.

No Indiana-bred could touch Molly’s Town as a 2-year-old of 2023.

Molly’s Town won his first four starts at Horseshoe Indianapolis by a combined 24 lengths, and while he took two defeats in open company, he came roaring back in his 3-year-old debut winning an open first-level allowance by a wide margin. Molly’s Town got a 95 Beyer Speed Figure for that April 2024 performance but ended his 2024 campaign with four losses. His Beyers from two starts this year: 67 and 51.

Although Dolomite has been stakes-placed on a couple of occasions around two turns, trainer Chad Brown has come to the conclusion that one turn is where she currently excels. The seven-furlong distance of Thursday’s $90,000 main event at Aqueduct is the primary reason the red-hot New York-bred filly will take on open company once again in the second-level allowance and optional-claiming dash for fillies and mares.

In the summer of 2023, Big Data parlayed a first-level allowance win at Gulfstream Park into a Super Derby victory at Louisiana Downs. Trainer Michael Lerman would love to see the same unfold for the horse’s stablemate Radical Rhetoric.

Radical Rhetoric will be looking to back up a strong maiden win with a first-level allowance victory in Thursday’s sixth race at Gulfstream. The one-turn mile is for 3-year-olds.

It’s no surprise seeing Brad Cox in contention for the trainer’s title at the Churchill spring meet, but there are other surprises within the trainer standings.

It’s not that the Chicago Stakes on Saturday night at Churchill Downs was a make-or-break race for the 5-year-old mare Vahva. Or was it? Vahva had not won since the 2024 Chicago, ran flat in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, and in her first start since that race finished seventh, beaten more than a dozen lengths, in the Derby City Distaff on Derby Day. Granted, the Derby City Distaff featured an absolutely stellar field and was contested over a sloppy track, but Vahva still had something to prove in the Chicago – and she proved it.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Regal Moment, who never fired when sprinting in her season opener, is switching to the more appropriate distance of 1 1/16 miles in Thursday’s Woodbine headliner and is liable to get back on track in the first-level allowance/$40,000 claiming race.

A nominee to the July 20 Woodbine Oaks, Regal Moment put together a respectable three-race juvenile campaign under the guidance of trainer Stuart Simon. After racing at the rear of an eight-horse field on the turn in her Oct. 5 debut, she closed furiously to prevail by a head in the seven-furlong maiden event.

The last weeks of June will be a quiet period for Journalism, winner of the Preakness Stakes who was second in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes this spring.

Journalism has been galloping on a daily basis at Santa Anita since his second-place finish to Sovereignty in the Belmont Stakes on June 7 at Saratoga, trainer Michael McCarthy said Sunday.

McCarthy stressed that he and the partnership that own Journalism have not determined race plans for the colt.

“He’s enjoying himself and we’ll figure it out soon,” McCarthy said. “Right now, I don’t know.