ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The stretch-runner War Court could get a good setup in Thursday’s Woodbine feature, a conditioned allowance with a $50,000 claiming option going 1 1/8 miles on the Tapeta.

A 5-year-old owned by Chiefswood Stables, War Court was sent to trainer Layne Giliforte after his first two poor performances at 3. He graduated in his third start for Giliforte last August and then doubled up in a first-level allowance in October.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – An injury to A.P. Smithwick winner Belfast Banter will keep him out of Wednesday’s Grade 1, $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard Steeplechase, but trainer Cyril Murphy hopes he has a suitable back-up in recent novice stakes winner McTigue.

McTigue is one of 10 runners entered in a seemingly wide-open Sheppard, pushed back one week by rains that have wreaked havoc with turf racing this summer in Saratoga. The Sheppard, named after the Hall of Fame trainer, was previously known as the New York Turf Writers Cup, a race Sheppard won 15 times.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Technical Analysis will likely be favored to give trainer Chad Brown his eighth victory in the Grade 2, $300,000 Ballston Spa Stakes on Thursday at Saratoga. But it could be another of Brown’s four entrants who is better-suited to get the job done in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for older females at Saratoga.

Consumer Spending, coming off back-to-back Grade 3 stakes victories at Monmouth Park, could get the right setup to give Brown his eighth Ballston Spa success since 2012.

A return to normalcy is forecast Thursday at Del Mar, which is welcome news after a tropical storm forced cancellation of the Sunday card and rescheduling of the $150,000 Solana Beach Stakes to Friday. First post for the final three Fridays has been moved to 3 p.m.

Thursday first post is the standard 2 p.m. and if the weather cooperates, the turf course will have sufficient time to dry before the eight-race card that includes four turf races.

Nimitz Class has emerged as one of the better handicap horses in the Mid-Atlantic. A winner in 10 of 18 starts, Nimitz Class will likely start favored Monday in Parx Racing’s Storm Cat Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at a mile and 70 yards.

The Storm Cat is one of seven $100,000 stakes on the card for Pennsylvania-bred or -sired performers.

Nimitz Class captured five races in a row before finishing a close second in Monmouth Park’s Grade 3 Salvator Mile on June 17.

Troubled trips against Grade 1 company worked against Southlawn in both the Kentucky and Coaching Club American Oaks, but trainer Norm Casse hopes a class drop will help her return to form in Parx Racing’s $200,000 Cathryn Sophia Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile and 70 yards.

The Cathryn Sophia is one of three undercard stakes on Tuesday’s Smarty Jones program with the $100,000 Parx Dash for 3-year-olds and upward at five furlongs on turf and the $75,000 Salvatore M. DeBunda Sprint for 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There may be only six entrants in Sunday’s $150,000 Bolton Landing Stakes but there is nary a throwout in the field of 2-year-old fillies hoping to navigate 5 1/2 furlongs over Saratoga’s Mellon turf course.

Wet weather this summer has taken its toll on turf racing here. Through Friday there have been 47 scheduled turf races forced to the dirt. At the same point of the 2022 meet, there were five turf races moved to dirt.

The Group 1 Prix Morny came up a hot race this year, but it’s an open question how any of its top entrants will cope with testing ground Sunday at Deauville Racecourse.

The course as of Friday was rated heavy, and thunderstorms Friday night were forecast to give way to light rain early Saturday morning. The ground should dry somewhat before the Sunday card, but it will be nothing like the going that stakes winners in England earlier this summer encountered.

A competitive field of nine 3-year-olds entered Tuesday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at 1 1/16 miles, the local prep for Parx Racing’s signature event of the year, the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 23.

The first three finishers in the Smarty Jones will receive free nomination, entry, and starting fees to the 1 1 1/8-mile Derby.

Last year, the second time the $200,000 Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park was run as a two-turn dirt mile, Parx Racing-based trainer Butch Reid sent an also-ran from the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga, Vedareo, to win. A year later, Reid has another Schuylerville also-ran, Kiss for Luck, entered in Sunday’s renewal of the Sorority.

The pattern runs deeper. Like Vedareo, Kiss for Luck won her debut at Parx before racing in the Schuylerville. And Kiss for Luck is by Accelerate out of Vero Amore, making her a half-sister to the 2022 Sorority winner.