It looks on the past performances like they forgot to put in the final time of the Jaipur Stakes.

That 59.80? A five-furlong split, not a 5 1/2-furlong clocking.

And yet that is how long it took Cogburn to finish the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga. Cogburn won by a wide margin, 3 1/2 lengths, and no horse in modern North American racing ever had run as fast in a 5 1/2-furlong grass race.

“It was unbelievably exciting,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Cogburn for Clark Brewster and William and Corrinne Heiligbrodt. “He was just smoking.”

Top to bottom, the Mint Millions came up a stronger race than in 2023, when Ancient Rome swooped in from England and scooped up a winner’s purse a little less than $1.2 million. Ancient Rome, bidding for a Mint Millions repeat, is up for a sterner challenge.

“I think he’s probably a better horse this year than last year, and he had a pretty good year last year,” trainer Charlie Hills said.

Whiskeyjack will make his first start versus older foes in Saturday’s six-furlong allowance headliner at Emerald Downs. The sophomore burst onto the Emerald scene two months ago with an eye-catching come-from-behind victory after a terrible start.

Sunbird will attempt to make amends in Saturday’s $50,000 S.W. Randall Plate over 1 1/8 miles at Hastings. The 4-year-old son of Orb, trained by Terry Jordan, finished a troubled-trip second last out as the 6-5 favorite in the B.C. Cup Classic on Aug. 5.

The narrow runner-up in last year’s B.C. Derby could be said to be due for some luck. In his penultimate start, Sunbird lost the Lieutenant Governor’s by a nose, and he lost a May 18 allowance by a head. In six Hastings route attempts, the gelding has lost by no more than a length, with three wins among them.

Horses who last raced in Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, and Wyoming will meet in Colorado on Friday to run in the $36,250 Inaugural, which is the opening-day feature at Arapahoe Park.

There was some question whether the track would race this year due in part to facility upgrades required by the county, but a website post noted there will be racing after approvals from both the county and state.

Flat Hanby will attempt to win his fifth straight race in a $50,000 division of the Oklahoma Stallion Stakes on Friday night at Remington Park and with the right kind of performance, he could advance to the Oklahoma Derby.

“It’s just going to depend on how he runs,” said trainer Boyd Caster.

Bentornato, who won two-thirds of last year’s Florida Sire Stakes for 2-year-olds, emerged from his runner-up finish in the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial on Aug. 23 at Charles Town in good order, trainer Jose D’Angelo said Tuesday.

“He’s excellent,” he said. “He ran huge.”

The start was Bentornato’s first since February, when he ran third in the Saudi Derby. For his effort in the Hilton, a seven-furlong race run around two turns, he earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 99.

Anatomy is set to make a rare start on turf Friday at Gulfstream Park when she goes in a first-level allowance for fillies and mares at five furlongs.

She will start from post 7 in the field of 10.

“We have a better post position now than the last time she ran on turf,” said trainer Jose D’Angelo.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Securely atop the California-bred juvenile class after winning the Graduation Stakes last month, R Heisman will aim for a more ambitious goal than statebred leadership.

Despite being the early favorite in the $100,000 I’m Smokin Stakes Friday at Del Mar, R Heisman is expected to scratch to run Sunday in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity. Owned by Gary Barber and trained by Peter Miller, the colt is an outsider in the Futurity, which Miller won in 2019 with 35-1 longshot Nucky.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Late on the evening of Sunday, July 21, Paul Blanchard, the owner of The Downs at Albuquerque, glanced at his phone, noticing a call from Johnny Trotter, his counterpart at Ruidoso Downs in southern New Mexico.

The conversation focused on the devastating flash floods that forced Ruidoso Downs to cancel the final five races the preceding day.

The Ruidoso meeting could not go forward. The flooding was too severe. During their conversation, Blanchard and Trotter swiftly developed plans to move the remainder of the Ruidoso Downs meeting to Albuquerque.