DEL MAR, Calif. – Juan Hernandez, the leading rider at the current Del Mar summer meeting, will serve a one-day suspension Saturday for excessive use of the whip aboard R Heisman in the $101,500 Graduation Stakes last Friday.

Hernandez was cited for using his whip seven times, once above the permitted level. He was fined $500 for the infraction.

Hernandez will be able to ride Saturday’s stakes, the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks. He is set to ride Zona Verde, who was second in the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap on July 20. Stakes mounts are exempt from routine suspensions.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Irish Wahine, who starts in a five-furlong allowance race on turf Thursday at Del Mar, was claimed for the sixth time in her 25-race career when she won May 25 at Santa Anita.

When she resumed racing at Los Alamitos last month, she was back in the same barn as she was the day she was claimed.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Bob Baffert’s grip on the Best Pal Stakes and Del Mar Futurity shows no signs of relenting.

The Hall of Fame trainer won the Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes for a record 11th time Sunday with the exciting colt Getaway Car. Ridden by Juan Hernandez, Getaway Car, by Curlin, led throughout the $147,000 Best Pal Stakes at six furlongs to win by 5 1/2 lengths in 1:10.37. There was no suspense in the final quarter-mile when Getaway Car pulled away.

“This guy has been a lot of fun,” Baffert said. “He’s fast. He’s got a beautiful way of moving.”

Sunday is comeback day for a couple highly regarded horses trained by Brad Cox.

Saudi Crown makes his first start following a break of more than three months in the $150,000 Cowboy Jones Stakes, while the 3-year-old filly Tarifa returns from a freshening in the $175,000 Audubon Oaks.

Those two races are among six stakes carded Sunday at Ellis Park.

The Cowboy Jones, race 5, begins the stakes action, and – for the class level – drew an especially strong field of 12. Still, 11 entrants in this one-mile event are running for second if Saudi Crown shows up.

A one-two finish by Inspiral and Big Rock in the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville, France, last August led to milestone achievements for the pair later in the year.

Inspiral won the richest race of her career last November by a neck in a thrilling running of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita. A few weeks earlier, Big Rock had won his first Group 1 on Champions Day in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot Racecourse in Britain.

They were both sharp debut winners earlier this summer, one unexpectedly on a low-key Saturday, the other meeting lofty expectations in a high-profile setting three weeks later.

The maiden race wins by Mischief River on June 29 at Los Alamitos and Getaway Car on July 20 at Del Mar have led to appearances in Sunday’s Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at six furlongs at Del Mar.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Jack Sisterson believes Aspen Grove has the talent to run in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 2 at Del Mar. She’ll likely have to do more to get in that field, but on Thursday she may have taken a first step toward doing that.

Aspen Grove won a second-level allowance race at Saratoga, overcoming a pedestrian pace over soft-ish ground to beat Avenue Niel by a neck. It was Aspen Grove’s first win since she captured the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks in July 2023 when still racing for the European-based trainer James Stack.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The absence of Thorpedo Anna is likely to mean Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga will attract a large field. Among the top contenders will be Power Squeeze, who has won 4 of 6 starts this year, most recently the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks, which she won by a nose over Sidamara.

While the narrow margin of victory might not look impressive, Jorge Delgado, trainer of Power Squeeze, believes there was more to the story.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The availability of the turf course Sunday at Saratoga will be the key for 11 3-year-olds entered to go 5 1/2 furlongs on grass in the $150,000 Mahony Stakes.

With the local area inundated by rain on Thursday and Friday, chances are the Mahony may ultimately be destined for the main track, especially considering that the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap and Saratoga Derby Invitational, both of which were postponed from Saturday’s card, will have top priority should the turf be open for business at all.