ELMONT, N.Y. -- Gufo has a bad habit of running east and west as quickly as he does north and south. While that tendency may have cost him a win in Saratoga, he was good enough to overcome it in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Belmont Derby Invitational at Belmont Park.

After coming out a path or two more than Junior Alvarado would have liked in the stretch, Gufo straightened away in time and lengthened his stride to run by No Word late and win the Belmont Derby by one length. No World finished second by 1 3/4 lengths over his Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Mo Ready.

Ivar was a star last year in Argentina and he looked like one Saturday in Kentucky, winning the Grade 1, $750,000 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland with a dazzling stretch run.

Ivar had two horses beat down the backstretch and around the far turn in the Shadwell, but launched himself into the fray at the quarter pole and descended on the leaders with alarming alacrity, hitting the front inside the furlong grounds and powering across the finish a dominant winner.

“I was all smiles turning for home,” said winning rider Joe Talamo.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Trainer Brad Cox has become known for training outstanding fillies, with a pair of Kentucky Oaks winners to his credit, 2018 victor Monomoy Girl and this year's winner, Shedaresthedevil. He came to opening weekend of the Keeneland fall meet loaded for bear, with a dozen horses entered in the first three days, including Shedaresthedevil in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes on Sunday.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Channel Maker is at his best when there is some give in the ground and he can dictate the pace.

Both factors were in play Saturday at Belmont Park as Channel Maker, after outrunning Cross Border to the lead early, was able to set realistic fractions thereafter while alone up front under Manny Franco and galloped to a 2 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park.

Make it two for Uni.

Spectacular winner of the 2019 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland, Uni put her best foot forward for the first time this year scoring a sharp one-length win in the Grade 1, $350,000 First Lady on Saturday. Uni, under Joel Rosario, roared past her favored Chad Brown-trained stablemate Newspaperofrecord in the final furlong while holding clear a late run from Beau Recall, who finished very fast to gain second over Newspaperofrecord.

BALTIMORE – Kenny McPeek has made a career out of proving the naysayers wrong, and the trainer did it once again Saturday when he sent out Swiss Skydiver to become just the sixth filly in history to win the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.

“People said, ‘Why are you running her in there?’” said McPeek, who incurred criticism on social media and elsewhere for defying convention by entering Swiss Skydiver against males in the 145th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Preakness. “She’s an amazing filly, that’s why.”

Almost two years to the day of Complexity’s three-length victory over Code of Honor in the 2018 Champagne, the pair finally met again, this time at a mile in the $150,000 Kelso Handicap. The final result turned out to be virtually the same, with Complexity edging away to a 2 ¼-length decision over Code of Honor in the Grade 2 fixture on Saturday at Belmont Park.

The field for the $150,000 Pilgrim on Saturday at Belmont Park was long on talent but short on early speed. A fact jockey Kendrick Carmouche exploited when able to nurse Fire At Will to a gate-to-wire two-length decision over 4-5 favorite Public Sector as the longest price on the board in the Grade 2 fixture for 2-year-olds that serves as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Inthemidstofbiz made her first start at Keeneland, in October 2019, it was in a claiming race. In her second start at Keeneland, she made her graded stakes debut and punched her ticket to the Breeders' Cup with an upset victory in the Grade 2, $200,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes on Saturday.

The six-furlong race for fillies and mares awarded the winner a berth into the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, to be contested at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Patrick Biancone had options for run Diamond Oops this weekend at Keeneland, and there was no mistake in his calculations. The versatile gelding, under a well-timed ride from Florent Geroux, ran down ambitious 51-1 longshot Empire of Gold to win the Grade 2, $200,000 Phoenix Stakes on Friday, opening day of Keeneland’s fall meet.