ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine will hold its final two Grade 1 races of the meet this coming Saturday, with the Grade 1, $800,000 Canadian International Stakes and the Grade 1, $600,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes leading the card. A field of seven is expected pass through the entry box on Wednesday for the Canadian International, led by last year’s winner, Desert Encounter.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – All-sources wagering handle of $39.8 million for the opening three-day weekend was up 6 percent in comparison to the same 2018 dates, according to figures released Monday by Keeneland.

Ontrack handle of just more than $4 million was up 3.6 percent, while total attendance of 53,297 was down less than 1 percent.

Field size averaged 10 horses per race (312 starters in 31 races), and favorites won at a 26 percent clip (8 of 31).

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano enjoyed such a fast start to the Keeneland spring meet in April that he nearly won the riding title with 14 winners, even after missing the last eight dates.

Well, Castellano is at it again. Through the opening weekend, he leads all jockeys with seven wins and $904,654 in mount earnings.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Brendan Walsh was making his way through the Keeneland crowd Sunday, minutes after Vitalogy had come up a neck shy of catching Peace Achieved in the Dixiana Bourbon Stakes.

He stopped to give a weary smile and a mild complaint.

“Nearly a perfect weekend,” said Walsh, the trainer of Vitalogy.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown still hasn’t decided in which Breeders’ Cup race he plans to run Bricks and Mortar. If he elects for the Mile, one of the main competitors could come from Brown’s own barn.

Uni, who set a course record winning Saturday’s Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland – she ran a mile in 1:32.87 – is likely to be supplemented to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile, co-owner Michael Dubb said Sunday at Belmont Park. The supplemental fee would be $100,000 according to a Breeders’ Cup spokesperson.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A day after Omaha Beach scored a hard-fought win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship, trainer Richard Mandella was contemplating the 3-year-old colt’s next start with the Breeders’ Cup Sprint here on Nov. 2 at the fore of the discussion.

In his first start since a win in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in April, Omaha Beach rallied through the stretch to catch the graded sprint stakes winner Shancelot in the final strides.

Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park would be deeded to government entities in Maryland and redeveloped as new racing centers under a plan proffered by the track’s owners, the state’s horsemen, and various government officials, the coalition supporting the plan announced on Saturday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Stella d’Oro, a winner in Ireland and the United States in his brief career, was euthanized after suffering an injury to his right foreleg during the fourth race at Keeneland on Friday, the track’s opening day.

Stella d’Oro, who was making his third start in the United States after starting his career in Ireland last summer, “took a bad step” coming out of the second turn in the 1 1/2-mile turf race, according to jockey Joel Rosario who immediately stopped on the horse and dismounted while holding the horse’s reins until track personnel could arrive to assist.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The multiple stakes winner Sharp Samurai has been turned out until early 2020, trainer Mark Glatt said on Friday.

Sharp Samurai was second in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on turf on Aug. 18. He had one workout in September before the decision was made to give the 5-year-old gelding a rest.

“He had some things that were nagging at him and we thought this would be a good time,” Glatt said. “He’ll be out until the first of the year.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mitole, widely regarded as the leading contender for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2, had his first major exercise at Santa Anita on Friday.

Mitole worked an easy half-mile in 50.60 seconds with minimal urging in the final furlong.

“That’s about as slow as you can go with him,” said Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. “It was his first time over a new track.”

Mitole, a 4-year-old colt owned by William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, galloped out five furlongs in 1:04, Blasi said.