The turn of the calendar to October means a narrowing of the focus to the Best of Ohio fall showcase program on Oct. 28 at Mahoning Valley. The program of five $100,000 stakes, the last of three Best of Ohio cards this season, goes a long way toward determining statebred champions. With only a handful of stakes remaining in the Buckeye State prior to that, three former Ohio champions get a chance for a prep race in the $75,000 Greg Veit Scarlet and Gray Stakes for statebred fillies and mare sprinting on Thursday at Thistledown.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Thursday’s lone pick four at Woodbine could begin and end with a victorious favorite, while the middle legs seem wide open.

In race 4, Kid Marvelous is plunging in value to meet $25,000 maidens after running competitively against maiden special weight company. Trainer Robert Tiller claimed him off a second for $40,000 in his April 29 debut from trainer Wesley Ward before sending him out to finish second in back-to-back maiden specials on different surfaces.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Algiers, the Dubai World Cup runner-up, scratched from Sunday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Woodward Stakes at Aqueduct and has been re-routed to Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Durham Cup at Woodbine.

Pretty Mischievous, the clear leader of the 3-year-old filly division who finished second in the Grade 1 Cotillion on Sept. 24 at Parx Racing, remains under consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Michael Banahan, director of bloodstock for Godolphin, said Sunday.

“She came out of the race fine, obviously it wasn’t a track she enjoyed at Parx. We’ll see how she does over the next couple of weeks, but if she bounces out of it as well as she went into it we’ll certainly have a look at it for sure.”

While her victory in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom Stakes came via a rare double disqualification, Caramel Swirl likely earned a start in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with that performance.

Caramel Swirl, like Cody’s Wish a Godolphin homebred, was taken up by jockey Junior Alvarado at around the eighth pole when Sterling Silver, from the outside, and Headland, from the inside, appeared to come into Caramel Swirl’s path. Sterling Silver would cross the finish line four lengths in front of Headland who was a half-length in front of Caramel Swirl.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Zandon and Cody’s Wish, winners of Grade 2 stakes Sunday at Aqueduct, are both expected to head to the Breeders’ Cup to make one more start before they are retired, their connections said after their respective races.

Zandon, who won Sunday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Woodward Stakes by 4 1/4 lengths as the even-money favorite, will run in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. Cody’s Wish, who won Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Vosburgh Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths, will seek a repeat in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on the same Nov. 4 card.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While the betting public will likely gravitate to the impressive maiden winner Agate Road in Wednesday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Pilgrim Stakes at Aqueduct, there is another late-running maiden winner from out of town who looks every bit as capable of winning the 1 1/16-mile turf race for 2-year-olds.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – By virtue of beating the boys in the Grade 3 With Anticipation Stakes on Aug. 31 at Saratoga, Gala Brand will be a deserving favorite when she faces her own gender in Wednesday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes at Aqueduct.

Though this 12-horse field attracted five maidens, the Miss Grillo still looks to be a tougher task for Gala Brand than the With Anticipation.

It seems Golden Gate Fields has saved the toughest for the last on Monday’s final day of the track’s late summer and early autumn meeting.

The 20-cent Golden pick six will have a mandatory payout on Monday and begins with a carryover of $69,893. The bet has not been hit since the season began in late August, and could have a pool of $500,000 on Monday.

The track has raced on a Saturday-through-Monday calendar for the brief season. After Monday, the Northern California racing circuit shifts to a two-week meeting in Fresno beginning Friday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – From a visual standpoint, there probably hasn’t been a more impressive 2-year-old maiden winner here this season than Secret Chat, who overcame a very poor start to capture his debut by seven lengths on Aug. 19.

Whether he can break better and ultimately repeat or improve on that effort will be the key questions when Secret Chat returns against five other promising juveniles in Sunday’s main event at Gulfstream Park, the $65,000 Aventura Stakes, to be decided at one mile on the main track.