DEL MAR, Calif. – Although she lost her comeback as the favorite, Diamond Bar Gal ran well enough to finish third. With the benefit of a prep, she figured to be a contender in her next out.

It’s what happened after the finish of her comeback that gives bettors reason to pause. Diamond Bar Gal pulled up on the backstretch of the California-bred allowance turf sprint. She did not return to be unsaddled. Instead, she was transported by equine ambulance back to the stable of trainer Brian Koriner.

The thing is, there was nothing wrong with Diamond Bar Gal.

The first time Idaho trainer Mark Hanson saw Weston he was visiting his brother Ryan’s offtrack stable in California in early 2020. Mark Hanson was not impressed.

“He was kind of scrawny,” Hanson recalled last weekend. “I thought, how is this thing going to win on the Southern California circuit?”

Hanson’s first impression was a little off the mark. Not only did Weston win a maiden race at 21-1 in his debut at Santa Anita in June 2020, but in his second start he won the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar that August.

“Life around horses is its own reward.”– Joe Taylor in his 1993 book, “Joe Taylor’s Complete Guide to Breeding & Raising Racehorses”

The late Joseph L. Taylor was born on Feb. 23, 1924 – preceding the 1936 opening of Keeneland and the company’s first fall yearling sale in 1944. The sale moved to its traditional September position in 1960.

The Keeneland September yearling sale will present a catalog of 4,407 horses over 12 sessions. Where does an owner, trainer, or bloodstock agent begin the mammoth job of sorting through that catalog to find the horses who will be successful in their program?

“Barn 1,” trainer Kenny McPeek said.

The Keeneland September yearling sale kicks off with a two-day Book 1, with yearlings Keeneland’s inspection teams have judged to be the finest based on pedigree, conformation, and other factors. With stellar pedigrees one factor in being selected into this elite book – which represents less than 9 percent of the catalog overall – it would be impossible to highlight every sibling to or yearling out of a Grade 1 winner.

Due to distance, exclusivity of books, or a combination of factors, there are some international stallions that are rare for American owners to tap into, but yearlings from a number of those sires are sprinkled throughout this year’s Keeneland September sale.

Much attention is, rightfully, focused on the sires in a sales catalog, with plenty of discussion of the leading stallions represented, the young sires whose stock is rising, and the merits of the stallions with first-crop yearlings on offer. But the stallion is only half the equation, and the strength of broodmares in a young stallion’s book can help make or break his reputation.

Keeneland September will offer more horses than any other yearling sale in North America. A little less than a year ago, The Jockey Club reported a North American foal crop of 18,143 for 2023. Keeneland announced that it has cataloged 4,407 of those, or about 24 percent, to the September sale.

Even had the Oceanport Stakes gone off as planned Aug. 11, the gap between that race and another in the same division, the Red Bank Stakes, would have been tight. The Oceanport initially failed to fill but came back on Monmouth Park’s Aug. 16 program, only a little more than two weeks before Monday’s $100,000 Red Bank.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The speedy Souper Quest will likely have to hold off the late kick of Arzak, Big Invasion, and others in order to win Monday’s $150,000 Harvey Pack Stakes scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs over Saratoga’s outer turf course.

The Harvey Pack, named in honor of the longtime New York racing analyst/paddock show host who died in 2021, shares billing on the 12-race closing-day card with the Grade 1, $300,000 Hopeful for 2-year-olds on dirt.