ARCADIA, Calif. – In autumn, the winner of the Anoakia Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Santa Anita emerges from one of two camps – those taking a shot while moving up from maiden races or those who already took their shot and are dropping from graded stakes.

The $85,000 Anoakia on Saturday includes reps from both – debut winner Sandy Bottom and graded stakes-placed dropper Dua. Those two and comebacker Becky’s Dream rank as top contenders in the Anoakia, which has been resurrected after a one-year absence.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Breeders’ Stakes victor Touch’n Ride goes back to the Tapeta in Saturday’s $150,0000 Ontario Derby, heading a field of 10 3-year-olds in the 1 1/8-mile route at Woodbine.

Owned by Chiefswood Stables, Touch’n Ride was an impressive 5 1/4-length maiden winner with a 91 Beyer Speed Figure second time out on the Tapeta. Sent off at 6-1 in the Aug. 20 King’s Plate, the son of Candy Ride was impeded on the backstretch during a wide trip over a rail-biased track en route to finishing a respectable fifth.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Alva Starr emulated her half-sister when winning the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes in New York in her most recent start for owner P. Dale Ladner and trainer Brett Brinkman, who also co-bred the filly. She’ll attempt to do her big sister one better when she runs in Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs.

Ghost Hero is a fresh face to the division for Friday night’s $131,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup at Remington Park. The race is one of eight stakes on a $1 million card that celebrates runners bred in Oklahoma.

The field of six for the Classics Cup, which is for 3-year-olds and up over 1 1/16 miles, includes defending winner That’s Something, past winner in Absaroka, and seven-time stakes winner Number One Dude.

Only nine 3-year-olds have captured the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the 39-year history of the event, the most recent being Drefong for trainer Bob Baffert at Santa Anita in 2016.

Drefong won the Sprint despite having made only five starts coming into the race, a résumé eerily similar to Baffert’s latest 3-year-old sprint star Speed Boat Beach, who will attempt to overcome his own relative inexperience taking on a field of vastly more accomplished rivals, including defending champion Elite Power.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott had his first Breeders’ Cup runner 37 years ago, in 1986. The following fall, Mott sent out the first of his 12 Breeders’ Cup winners, Theatrical in the Turf.

Thirty-five years after Theatrical, last November at Keeneland, Mott had his second two-win Breeders’ Cup, with Elite Power in the Sprint and Cody’s Wish in the Dirt Mile. Both horses, among eight Mott has aimed for this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, return for a repeat bid in their respective races.

Zozos might get the first call out of the starting gate in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

Zozos will be moving back to two turns off a wire-to-wire win in the Ack Ack on Sept. 30 at Churchill Downs. He earned a berth into the Dirt Mile for the victory and had his first work out of the race Sunday.

Zozos breezed a half-mile in 48.60 seconds at Churchill and the move confirmed Zozos for the Dirt Mile.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A couple of promising 3-year-old fillies owned by “Marlins Man” Laurence Leavy’s Starship Stable and trained by his longtime friend and colleague Steve Dwoskin will be in the spotlight when live racing resumes with an eight-race program Friday at Gulfstream Park.

With 27 winners so far during 2023 and a robust 25 percent strike rate, Lindsay Schultz, in her second full year as a trainer, has done well by herself. She has done well, too, by bettors who wager on her horses.

During 2022, Schultz’s 14 winners produced a $2.94 return on investment, a big number, and even on higher volume and as a more recognizable name during 2023, her ROI stood at $2.63 as of Wednesday. Alex Joon, who starts Friday in Keeneland’s featured ninth race, could further boost that stat.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Increasing evidence points to Motorious as a legitimate contender in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, an argument that may gain credibility in the featured seventh race Friday at Santa Anita.

An open allowance at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, the race is led by Phil D’Amato-trained Turn On The Jets and Unconquerable Keen. Turn On The Jets drops after finishing fourth at Del Mar in the Grade 3 Green Flash Handicap won by Motorious, also trained by D’Amato.