Groupie Doll, the leading candidate for a 2012 Eclipse Award in the filly-mare sprint decision, continues to progress toward a comeback from a minor hock injury. The 4-year-old filly had her third workout since returning to training when she breezed five furlongs in 1:01.40 on Thursday morning at her home track, Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Groupie Doll is doing so well that Buff Bradley, who trains Groupie Doll for himself and his father, Fred, is contemplating two prep races instead of one leading up to the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita.

DEL MAR, Calif. – So far, winning has come easily for Winding Way, the unbeaten 3-year-old filly who makes her stakes debut in Sunday’s $150,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar.

She won her debut by 4 3/4 lengths in a maiden race over six furlongs at Betfair Hollywood Park on June 10 and followed with a victory in an optional claimer over 6 1/2 furlongs by 7 1/4 lengths here on July 21.

[Complete coverage of racing at Del Mar: News, PPs, and video]

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Shug McGaughey was a cub back in 1981, the year of the inaugural Arlington Million.

“I was there for the first one,” McGaughey said. “I was training there, and they said they were going to run a million-dollar race, and I thought it was the craziest thing I ever heard.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – One loss, by a nose, has kept Lady of Shamrock from a perfect record on turf this year. Her strong record does not seem to have impressed the owners and trainers of her nine rivals in Saturday’s $300,000 Del Mar Oaks for 3-year-old fillies.

“We didn’t scare anyone off,” said John Sadler, who trains Lady of Shamrock. “They’ve come to run.”

Or, maybe they have come to run second to Lady of Shamrock.

[Complete coverage of racing at Del Mar: News, PPs, and video]

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Graham Motion long has believed that Aruna has something special awaiting her. A hard-trying British-bred mare with the class to match her consistency, Aruna has the opportunity to fulfill those hopes Saturday in one of the premier filly-mare turf races in North America, the Grade 1 Beverly D. at Arlington Park.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – If not for one untimely clunker, there seems little doubt that Marketing Mix would be a standout favorite Saturday in the Beverly D. at Arlington Park. But a head-scratching fourth-place finish in the Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile on the May 5 Kentucky Derby undercard stands out on her past performances, and not in a good way. Otherwise, the 4-year-old Ontario-bred filly has been a whirlwind of success, winning six times and finishing second in a Grade 1 race in her other seven turf tries.

Aruna, one of the main contenders for the Grade 1, $750,000 Beverly D. on Saturday, at Arlington Park, had her final prep for the 1 3/16-mile race by breezing five furlongs Monday morning in 1:01.40 at her Fair Hill training center base in Maryland.

Trainer Graham Motion was on hand from Saratoga to oversee the breeze and was to send Aruna on a Federal Express flight to Chicago on Tuesday night.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The trainer Luca Cumani won the Arlington Million with the first horse he ever sent to the race, Tolomeo in 1983. But Cumani has tried six more Millions since, most recently with fourth-place Summit Surge in 2010, and none of his starters has finished better than fourth.

Even when Frankel doesn’t participate in a Group 1 one-mile race in Europe, his long shadow falls across the proceedings. Such was the case Sunday at Deauville in France, where Excelebration won a strong renewal of the Group 1 Jacques Le Marois by 1 1/4 lengths over Cityscape.

Santa Anita Park has been selected to host the 2013 Breeders’ Cup pending the approval of a final host-site agreement, according to several officials involved in the discussions.

If the final contract details are worked out and approved by the Breeders’ Cup board, Santa Anita will become the host site for the two-day Breeders’ Cup event for the seventh time total and the fourth time since 2008. The track will be the site of this year’s event on Nov. 2-3, and it was also the host for the 2008 and 2009 events.