Recent Hastings maiden winner Jose Jose will try his hand at a first-level allowance race at Emerald Downs on Sunday. Trained by Robert Gilker, Jose Jose is perhaps most notable for being a half-brother to 2013 Longacres Mile hero Herbie D.

The 4-year-old by Jersey Town has raced once this year. Allowed to stroll on a soft early pace, he drew away in a nine-length romp over maiden company. All five of the other starters in that race have since returned ,with a pair having won next out and a third having been the runner-up to one of those winners.

The recent past could be key to unlocking this year’s renewal of the $225,000 Bashford Manor Stakes for 2-year-olds on Sunday at Ellis Park, as several of the juveniles entered are exiting key maiden races.

A field of seven is entered, six of them maiden winners. The likely favorite is Wilson Q, well drawn on the rail to use his speed under Reylu Gutierrez. The son of Constitution earned the highest Beyer Speed Figure in the field, a 76 for his debut win by a neck on May 18 at Churchill Downs.

Canada has been sending smoke to the continental U.S. for a good part of this summer. Woodbine has the first major race card of its 2023 season. Might the Canadians be kind enough to send us a couple of winners?

Highlander

Smokin’ Jay and Coffeewithchris both exit races of significance and are leading contenders in separate stakes Saturday at Laurel Park.

Coffeewithchris makes his first start following a seventh-place finish in the Preakness in the $100,000 Concern, and Smokin’ Jay is a chief contender in the $100,000 Laurel Dash after running second in a Churchill Downs allowance that went in course-record time.

The card Saturday at Laurel also includes the $75,000 Jameela Stakes that drew defending winner Spun Glass. First post for the 10-race program is 12:25 p.m. Eastern.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Weyburn has the pedigree, size, and stride that would lead one to think he could be effective going a route of ground. His body of work, however, suggests that one-turn races – primarily those at seven furlongs or a mile – are his best game.

Big and Classy and Todo Fino have combined to win their last 11 starts but barring a dead heat something will have to give when the two speedsters take on six rivals, including probable favorite Dean Delivers and defending champion Willy Boi, in Saturday’s $100,000 Smile Sprint at Gulfstream Park.

The Grade 3, six-furlong Smile Sprint is part of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Dozen, which provides the first three finishers a tiered bonus bankroll that can be applied to pre-entry and entry fees for the Breeders’ Cup.

ELMONT, N.Y. – After missing an intended start in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens due to an illness, Fort Bragg seems recovered and ready to do battle again when he faces five 3-year-olds in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park.

If Fort Bragg runs as well in the Dwyer as he did in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile – his most recent start on May 6 at Churchill Downs – he’ll be awfully tough to beat in the one-mile race.

From a class and speed figure standpoint, Viareggio matches up in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Robert G. Dick Memorial for fillies and mares on turf.

A Grade 3 winner in Ireland last summer, Viareggio recently finished a solid fourth in the Grade 1 Gamely at Santa Anita. Those races were at nine furlongs, and Viareggio will stretch out to 1 3/8 miles for the first time.

Two months after his arrival from the United Arab Emirates, jockey Antonio Fresu has shown a steady ascension in the jockey standings in Southern California.

At the spring portion of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, Fresu won 14 races from 86 mounts, good enough to tie for seventh in the standings.

Through Sunday, at the current Los Alamitos meeting, Fresu was tied for first with three wins along with Abdul Alsagoor, Abel Cedillo, and Ramon Vazquez.

Jockey Chris Rosier was as surprised as anybody to see himself named on a horse at the end of April at Evangeline Downs.

It had been more than three years since the 42-year-old native of San Diego, Calif., had ridden a race.

Rosier said a cycle of depression, drug use, and selfishness that ostracized others destroyed his career and contributed to the breakup of his family.

But, after eight months of diligently galloping horses, things changed this spring. Rosier got some big news as he was on his way into a support meeting for those recovering from addiction.