Instant Replay has resumed training at his Churchill Downs base following a trip earlier this month to Louisiana Downs, where he won the $250,000 Super Derby.

Instant Replay closed for a head win, and for his effort earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 89. It was his third stakes win this year for the Brad Cox trainee, behind the Bathhouse Row at Oaklawn and the Texas Derby at Lone Star Park. The Super Derby was Sept. 6.

“He’s been in light training,” Cox said last week. “I’m not sure where we’ll land with him moving forward, race-wise.”

The 3-year-old filly Fionn has become a very rich girl in 2025.   

“It’s amazing that she’s the fourth-leading earner in America this year,” trainer Brad Cox said. 

Fionn has won 5 of 6 starts in 2025 to lift her earnings for this year to $1,737,970. In standings posted by Equibase, she sits off a trio of male runners in Sovereignty ($5.6 million), Journalism ($3.8 million) and White Abarrio ($1.9 million).  

Coal Battle worked a bullet five furlongs on Saturday at Ellis Park and later the same morning drew post eight in a field of eight for the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park. The 1 1/8-mile race will be run next Sunday, Sept. 28, on a card of eight stakes that begins at 3 p.m. Central.

Coal Battle breezed in 59.80 seconds, the move was the fastest of 23 at the distance. The Grade 2 winner who has earned $1.2 million is gearing up for his first start since July 5, when he ran second in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The decisive victory by Baeza in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby on Saturday at Parx Racing has elevated the 3-year-old to the short list of contenders for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic this fall at Del Mar.

Baeza, who earned a career-best 105 Beyer winning the Pennsylvania Derby by 2 1/4 lengths under jockey Hector Berrios, was scheduled to return to Santa Anita on Tuesday. If Baeza is up to it, trainer John Shirreffs will prepare him for the BC Classic.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Journalism, the multiple Grade 1 winner who ranks among the top 3-year-olds in the country, resumed serious training for the Breeders’ Cup Classic by working an easy half-mile Saturday morning at Santa Anita.

Winner of the Santa Anita Derby, Preakness Stakes and Haskell, runner-up in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Pacific Classic, Journalism was timed in :48.20 for his solo workout after the 7:45 a.m. track renovation. Trainer Michael McCarthy was not looking for any more than Journalism gave.

Bonuses paid to the owners of California-breds that win maiden races at Del Mar and Santa Anita will be increased this winter after recent declines.

Starting with the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that begins on Dec. 26, the owners of statebreds that win maiden races against open company or against California-breds will receive $12,500, an increase from the current level of $10,000.

Richard Root, a trainer of multiple graded stakes winners and longtime board member of the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, died in late August, according to family members. Root was 82.

Root was one of three family members who served as private trainers for Harry Mangurian Jr. from the 1970s through the 1990s, along with his father, Tommy Root Sr., and his brother Tommy Root Jr. During that time, Richard Root was the primary trainer of Mangurian’s homebred Nany, a multiple graded stakes winner who was named a New York-bred champion.

CYPRESS, Calif. - It’s possible that jockey Kazushi Kimura will win the 1,000th race of his career in North America between Friday and Sunday, during the final three days of the Los Alamitos September meeting.

If not, the milestone will arrive at the Santa Anita autumn meeting, which begins on Sept. 26.

Through Sunday, Kimura had ridden 997 winners in North America, including three races at Los Alamitos on Sept. 12 - the opening day of the track’s two-week meeting.

CYPRESS, Calif. - Trainer Jeff Mullins has a 5-year-old in Man O Rose, whom he describes as having a “snappy” style away from the gate. The barn has a mare in Queen Maxima, who has shown the same snappy style in the stretch of turf sprints this year.

Add the promising 2-year-old colt Intrepido and Mullins, 62, could be in for a fascinating autumn and winter with his California stable.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Hall of Famer Mike Smith, beaming ear to ear, took the short walk from the winner’s circle to the jockey’s room after winning the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante aboard Bottle of Rouge on Saturday, but was unable to get far before he was stopped by well-wishers.

For Smith, a win at the highest level was a source of pride, his first since Subsanador won the Grade 1 California Crown at Santa Anita last September.

“I needed something like that,” he said.