SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As the connections of Gulfport await a final resolution in the courts regarding the 2022 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga that could eventually make him a Grade 1 winner, they are running him in allowance spots for which he officially remains eligible while hoping to return to stakes company.

Following a victory in a second-level allowance at Churchill Downs on June 30, Gulfport now steps into a third-level allowance/ $80,000 optional claimer that goes as Thursday’s eighth race at Saratoga.

DEL MAR, Calif. – It is nearly impossible to win a Del Mar turf race by rallying four wide on the far turn.

Wide on turf is no-man’s-land, which is where heavily favored Divin Propos and jockey Antonio Fresu found themselves in a second-level turf allowance last month.

“At the three-eighths, one guy moved out and pushed me out,” Fresu said. Divin Propos “lost so much ground. That was it. He was trying, but on this track, it’s hard to win [rallying wide] on the last turn.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Never Silent should make some noise with the addition of Lasix in Thursday’s Woodbine headliner for fillies and mares, scheduled for 6 1/2 furlongs on the main turf.

Never Silent started three times last year at 2 for trainer Catherine Day Phillips. She aired on debut in a 5 1/2-furlong Tapeta dash in July, scoring by 5 1/2 lengths with a 66 Beyer Speed Figure.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The powerful Godolphin-Charlie Appleby team is likely to send out both Measured Time and Silver Knott, recent stakes winners at Saratoga, in the Grade 1, $750,000 Sword Dancer Stakes on Aug. 24.

On Friday, the pair each put in a workout over the Oklahoma turf course. Measured Time, winner of the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes on June 8, went a half-mile in 50.29 seconds, according to Daily Racing Form, outfinishing workmate Bold Act while getting his final quarter in 24.07 seconds.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – With only three starts under his belt, Unmatched Wisdom will be the least experienced runner of the eight 3-year-olds expected to be entered Sunday in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes to be run here on Aug. 24.

But with a perfect 3-for-3 record and the services of leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. for the first time, he could be one of the more intriguing runners in the field.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. _ Trainer Brendan Walsh will certainly hope the forecasted rain Sunday holds off until later than 4:30 p.m., after the $150,000 Bolton Landing Stakes for 2-year-old fillies is scheduled to be run at Saratoga.

Walsh has the Irish-bred European import Mighty Eriu set to compete in the Bolton Landing, scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs on the outer turf course. Mighty Eriu, previously trained by Gavin Cromwell, might be a maiden, but the company she kept in Europe is pretty strong.

What can Katie M’lady do for an encore after winning a stakes race named after her? Probably not much, and neither significant weight concession nor the threat of a rain-off is likely to keep Katie M’lady from the Hawthorne winner’s circle Sunday in the $75,000 Illini Princess Handicap.

There’s a better-than-average chance a daughter of Adios Charlie will win the seventh race Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

Adios Charlie is the sire of four of the seven fillies making up the field for the $35,000 starter allowance, and one of them, Vindicate Cha Cha, could go favored. The group of 3-year-olds will be traveling five furlongs on Tapeta.

Adios Charlie won the Grade 2 Jerome in 2011 at Aqueduct. He stands in Florida.

Five horses have won the Maryland Million Turf twice, including Wicked Prankster, who wired the field in the last two editions.

The 6-year-old gelding takes his first major step toward a record-setting third victory later this fall when he starts in Sunday’s $75,000 Find for Maryland-bred or -sired performers at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

The star of trainer Samuel Davis’s six-horse stable, Wicked Prankster failed to hit the board in his first three starts this year.