OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Dornoch and Sierra Leone, separated by nose in Saturday’s Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, will soon head to South Florida to train for the winter, but at least one could make a return trip to New York to keep traveling down the Triple Crown trail.

Danny Gargan, trainer of Dornoch, said “there’s a big chance he comes back for the Withers,” a race, like the Remsen, run at 1 1/8 miles around two turns. Though there is no official date for the Withers - NYRA has not released its 2024 stakes schedule yet - it is expected the Withers will be run Feb.  3.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Life Talk gave trainer Todd Pletcher his ninth victory in the Grade 2 Demoiselle when she splashed her way to a 3 3/4-length, front-running score at Aqueduct on Saturday.

Of Pletcher’s previous eight Demoiselle winners, four made it to the following spring’s Kentucky Oaks, with Malathaat (2020) and Ashado (2004) winning that race. Nest finished second in the 2021 Oaks while Unlimited Budget was third in 2012.

Life Talk will be put on the Oaks trail, Pletcher said Saturday evening after the race, though what path she will take is not yet clear.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The well-traveled Hoist the Gold, winner of Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, will be considered for a trip to the Middle East and the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 24, trainer Dallas Stewart said Sunday.

While Hoist the Gold has yet to run 1 1/8 miles - the distance of the Saudi Cup - the fact the race is run around one turn plus the large purse makes it a race worth considering, Stewart said.

A Los Angeles county superior court judge has issued an order requiring the stewards in California to disqualify Justify from the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.

The order, issued by Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff on Friday, was sought by Mick Ruis, who owned the second-place finisher in the race, Bolt d’Oro. It is the latest in a drawn-out legal saga that began when it became known 17 months after the race that a post-race positive for scopolamine by Justify had been thrown out by the California Horse Racing Board.

Equinox, the world’s highest-rated racehorse, has been retired to Shadai Stallion Station in Hokkaido following his victory in Sunday’s Japan Cup, international trade publications have reported.

Turf Paradise is finalizing an application to the state’s racing commission that would ask for approval of a 57-day meet starting on Jan. 29, according to officials of the current owners of the Phoenix racetrack.

Vince Francia, the longtime general manager of the track under current owner Jerry Simms, said on Thursday morning that the application was being finalized “as we speak.” The meet would run through May 4, the date of the Kentucky Derby, Francia said.

A review of a cluster of equine fatalities that occurred at Laurel Park in Maryland last winter and spring did not turn up a “single cause” for the spate, according to a report issued by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority on Tuesday, though the report noted that many of the horses that died had significant risk factors for injuries.

The report, which examined the circumstances surrounding 13 deaths at Laurel from Jan. 14 to April 20, was based on an analysis of necropsy reports, veterinary treatments, and track maintenance procedures and surface data.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Planetario, winner of the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar on Friday, will be considered for two seven-figure turf marathons in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in early 2024.

Trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday that the $2.5 million Red Sea Turf Handicap at 1 7/8 miles in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 24, and the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup at two miles at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on March 30 will be considered for Planetario.

DEL MAR, Calif. - In the final months of his 5-year-old year, Easter has found the best form of his career with consecutive stakes wins in Southern California. The victories have left trainer Phil D’Amato hopeful that a 6-year-old season in 2024 could be even better.

Easter won the restricted Lure Stakes at Santa Anita in October in his final start for trainer Graham Motion, and Saturday’s Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar.

“If he keeps doing what he’s doing, he could be a Breeders’ Cup horse next year,” D’Amato said on Sunday.