SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bright Future and Proxy, separated by a nose when finishing one-two in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, will both likely train up to the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, their connections said Sunday.

Grade 1 turf winner Spendarella has been retired from racing and will become a broodmare, trainer Graham Motion said Saturday. 

Spendarella had been pointed to the Beverly D. Stakes at Colonial Downs last month, but wasn’t entered in the race because Motion wasn’t pleased with the way the filly was training. Spendarella last raced in the Grade 1 Just A Game on June 9 at Belmont Park, where she was a well-beaten second behind In Italian, her second start of 2023 following a runner-up finish in the Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill. 

SARATOG SPRINGS, N.Y. - Disarm, runner-up to Arcangelo in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers here on Aug. 26, will not race again this year, trainer Steve Asmussen said Saturday.

“Just came out of it pretty jammed up,” said Asmussen, who added the horse has been sent to Dr. Larry Bramlage at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky., for further evaluation.

Disarm, a second-out winner at Saratoga last summer, had a busy 3-year-old campaign with seven starts from February through August.

Dick Clark, a longtime trainer based at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, has been issued a 7 1/2-year suspension by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit following positive tests in two horses for methamphetamine, a banned drug, and possession of a banned substance.

Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard, whose accomplishments spanned training Eclipse Award champion flat horses to steeplechasers who joined him in the Hall, died Sunday, Aug. 27, at his home in Hollywood, Fla., of complications from late-stage Lyme Disease. He was 82.

British-born Sheppard had retired from training early in 2021. He finished as the National Steeplechase Association’s all-time leading trainer by wins with 1,242 in a career that began in 1966, and his horses earned almost $25 million on the jumps circuit, also a record.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It remains to be seen if Echo Zulu and Gunite ever get to see Saratoga’s main track again, but if not, they certainly left their mark at this historic venue throughout their careers.

Echo Zulu, a 4-year-old daughter of Gun Runner, won her fourth race in as many starts at Saratoga when she rolled to a 2 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap. At 2, Echo Zulu won a maiden and the Grade 1 Spinaway on her way to earning an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Like trainer Brendan Walsh here three weeks ago, following Pretty Mischievous's victory in the Grade 1 Test, his counterpart Esteben Martinez found it difficult to celebrate after One In Vermillion rallied from last to upset Saturday’s H. Allen Jerkens following the catastrophic injury suffered by New York Thunder when 1/16-mile from an apparent one-sided triumph in the Grade 1 race for 3-year-olds.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Validation was the sentiment top of mind Sunday from the connections of Arcangelo, who proved he wasn’t a one-hit wonder in the Belmont Stakes by capturing his second Grade 1 victory in Saturday’s $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Anarchist earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 4 with a win in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday.

The BC Dirt Mile is run at a distance that may not suit Anarchist, who won the longest race of his career in the $252,500 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said on Sunday that the BC Sprint at six furlongs on Nov. 4 has greater appeal. He described the BC Sprint as “the main priority.”

“We’ll play it by ear,” O’Neill said.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Katonah, the maiden claimer last fall who became a stakes winner this summer, was pronounced ready for Saturday’s Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar after officially working six furlongs in 1:12 from the gate on Sunday.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said the exercise was a five-furlong workout in 58.60 seconds. Katonah galloped out seven furlongs in 1:25.60, O’Neill said.