Sparkle Blue flashed ability last year with consistent performances in stakes races around the country. After, perhaps, shaking some rust off last time out, she shines brightest in the lineup as the lone graded stakes winner in the field of 12 fillies and mares for the $225,000 Keertana, a 1 1/2-mile turf race that is the Saturday afternoon feature at Churchill Downs.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Although the Santa Anita hillside turf course has not been kind to sprint speedster Fast Buck, a favorable pace scenario suggests a turnaround on Saturday.

Fast Buck enters the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes as the lone front-runner, but with a glaring flaw. The 6 1/2-furlong hillside course is where Fast Buck ran the worst two turf races of his career – next-to-last finishes in a Cal-bred stakes and a second-level allowance.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The prospects for a hotly contested pace should give handicappers plenty to ponder in Saturday’s main event at Gulfstream Park, a $60,000 overnight handicap to be decided at five furlongs on the turf. The 48-hour forecast called for a 50-60 percent chance of rain over the local area on Saturday.

Chess Master will go postward the 120-pound topweight in a field of 10, all of whom will be trying to get in one more start over the local course before turf racing goes on a six- to seven-month sabbatical here starting next week.

Morning Matcha is the 8-5 morning line favorite for Saturday’s $150,000 Obeah Stakes for fillies and mares at Delaware Park. The 1 1/16-mile Obeah is the local prep for the Grade 2, $500,000 Delaware Handicap at 1 3/16 miles on July 8.

Morning Matcha raced 10 times last year, with her biggest victory coming in the Main Line Stakes at Parx on March 8. She proved herself against graded competition when third in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks on July 2, second in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx on Sept. 24, and third in the Grade 3 Comely on Nov. 22.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Given the fluidity of the California sprint division, the lasting significance of the Grade 2 Triple Bend Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita is entirely uncertain.

It also is uncertain how long the campaigns of Spirit of Makena and his Triple Bend rival Forbidden Kingdom will last, though it will be at least a minute and 22 seconds. That is enough time to run seven furlongs and provide temporary clarity to the sprint division.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Turf racing debuts at the Woodbine meet on Saturday with a trio of allowance/optional claimers on the main course.

Pioneer’s Edge deserves top billing in the featured eighth race traveling 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares. After landing her debut last May, she gave future Woodbine Oaks and Queen’s Plate winner Moira a run for her money when second in the June 11 Fury Stakes.

Midnight Mojo, winner of the 2021 Gottstein Futurity, will attempt to win for the second time in his career when facing seven others in Saturday’s feature race at Emerald Downs, an allowance for non-winners of two lifetime or Washinton-bred won-winners of three.

With just the one win in 15 career starts, Midnight Mojo has developed a habit of drifting a bit too far back in the early going and rendering himself unable to make up all of the needed ground in the stretch.

When the stakes-winning filly Dark Nme walks into the starting gate for the 16th and final race at Ruidoso Downs on Friday, the first day of time trials for the Ruidoso Futurity will be six hours old.

The mood will be tense. Only the five fastest finishers through the day will qualify for the $1 million final at 350 yards on June 11.

Dark Nme (pronounced enemy) must finish with a rapid time under jockey Francisco Calderon. Wind, weather, and track condition can affect final times at Ruidoso Downs, situated in the southern New Mexico mountains.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Before and after the maiden colt Worcester starts as a likely odds-on favorite in race 3 Friday at Santa Anita, maiden fillies offer bettors higher prices along with some added risk.

Collectmythoughts, a second-time starter in race 1, and Sharp Ride, a first-time starter in race 7, are less imposing than Worcester. But increased risk means increased potential reward. The fillies’ odds will be significantly higher than the colt’s.

A filly from the final crop of Arrogate sold for $1 million as the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-year-olds in training sale concluded two days of trade at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium with solid figures, including a record-tying median.

Fasig-Tipton reported that 373 juveniles changed hands Monday and Tuesday for gross receipts of $34,751,500. That figure was the second highest in the sale’s history, behind last year’s $37,297,700 when 391 sold.