SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A nose separated Eclatant and Grand Job when they finished first and second in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes at Keeneland on April 4.

The outcome was a milestone victory for Eclatant and a tough loss for Grand Job. They were six lengths clear of the remaining six runners.

Two months later, Eclatant has yet to start again, while Grand Job has an excellent chance for her second career graded stakes win in Friday’s Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses Stakes at seven furlongs for fillies and mares at Saratoga.

Nathan Klein began his first week as the track announcer at Penn National on Tuesday, calling six races on the evening card. It was a historic moment for the 21-year-old, but he would rather see it as one among many.

“I am the youngest [track announcer] in North America, and for now, I get to appreciate that,” Klein said. “But it’s also a good reminder that you’re not going to be like this forever. This is just one point in my life, so I better enjoy it while I can.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – There are two competitive allowance races Friday at Santa Anita, a turf mile for fillies and mares and a dirt mile open to both genders.

Most in the filly-mare race, the seventh, are eligible for the nonwinners-of-two-other-than condition, but the optional $80,000 claiming race is also open to non-winners of $60,000 since Dec. 5. The clause allows second-level allowance winner Ripassare to start. She might be the one to beat.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Turf racing kicks off at the Woodbine meet in Friday’s nightcap with a $25,000 maiden claimer going a mile on the inner course. Post time for the first of eight races is 1 p.m.

The seven-furlong inner course will be used exclusively while the main turf continues to undergo renovations. The resodding of the backstretch on the 1 1/2-mile main course was completed in May and should be available for racing later this year, according to Tim Lawson, Woodbine’s vice president of racing.

Among the handful of Hastings refugees who now have stables on the Emerald Downs backstretch, Ian Jewell is the most familiar face, having gotten 19 starts at the Auburn, Wash., track under his belt last year.

Seas of Normandy, a now-6-year-old gelding, was perhaps the most prominent of Jewell’s entrants, running a distant ninth in Emerald’s biggest race, the $125,000 Longacres Mile. After following that up with another disappointing finish in a stakes back at Hastings, Seas of Normandy notched his fourth career win in a Sept. 27 allowance at Hastings.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Gezora, who won the Prix de Diane – France’s Oaks – and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf during a highly productive, two-continent 2025 campaign, long has been aimed at the New York Stakes on Friday at Saratoga. It’s just that Chad Brown figured he’d be saddling the filly, not trying to beat her.

Owner Peter Brant moved Gezora and several other horses out of Brown’s barn in mid-May, a couple weeks after the Brown-trained Kathynmarissa, who campaigns for other owners, beat Gezora in the Modesty Stakes. Gezora now resides in the Bill Mott stable.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mythical, whose six career stakes wins include easy victories at Saratoga a year ago in the Tremont and Grade 3 Adirondack, figures to go postward a strong choice on Thursday to add to her already impressive résumé in the $175,000 Jersey Girl Stakes. The 3-year-old filly fixture will be decided at six furlongs and lured a field of six that also includes the once-beaten Carmel Coast and stakes winner Goodall.

The defending race winner almost certainly isn’t running in Thursday’s renewal of the Belmont Gold Cup.

Parchment Party won the 2025 Gold Cup by 8 1/2 lengths but did so after heavy rain forced the race from turf onto dirt. His trainer, Bill Mott, laughed and shook his head when recently asked if he’d ever try the horse on grass again. Mott entered Parchment Party for the main track only, which, if the weather forecast holds, leaves eight grass horses to run two miles in the Grade 2, $250,000 Gold Cup.

Trainer Brian Lynch said connections scratched Mae Town from the Unbridled Sidney Stakes on May 1 at Churchill Downs because the race looked too tough. Now, Mae Town looks tough in the featured eighth race Wednesday at Churchill.

Mae Town, who hasn’t started since last summer at Ellis Park, drew the outside post, a favorable spot, and faces no more than eight foes in a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint with multiple high-end allowance conditions, a $175,000 claiming option, and a stakes-class $141,000 purse.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Commandment seems to be the forgotten horse of this year’s Triple Crown heading into Saturday’s $2 million Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.

Despite being a multiple graded stakes winner and one of just three Grade 1 winners in the field, there doesn’t seem to be much buzz surrounding Commandment, who finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby, beaten 5 1/2 lengths by Golden Tempo.