ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The filly Got Stormy has been tabbed as the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the 23rd running of the $1 million Woodbine Mile on Saturday, when she will try to give trainer Mark Casse his third win in the Grade 1 fixture.

Got Stormy had a Saratoga to remember. A week after taking the De La Rose Stakes on Aug. 3, she beat the boys in course-record time in the Grade 1 Fourstardave, earning a 108 Beyer Speed Figure.

Casse won the 2016 Woodbine Mile with the brilliant mare Tepin. He said Got Stormy is nearly in the same ballpark as Tepin.

CYPRESS, Calif. – A celebration of life will be held Sept. 30 at Los Alamitos for California steward George Slender, who died after an illness on Aug. 26 in Rancho Santa Fe., Calif.

Slender was 85 and had been retired from his position as a steward since late 2015.

A native of Santa Rosa, Calif., Slender was an accomplished athlete in his youth, attending the University of Oregon on a football scholarship. He later played minor league baseball. Slender served in the Army after being drafted. He was discharged in 1958 and began to train horses and work on the gate crew.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Last weekend at Los Alamitos, jockey Abel Cedillo was winless with 11 mounts, the first time he went a racing weekend without a victory since late July.

Cedillo is in the midst of an outstanding first summer in Southern California. At the Del Mar summer meeting, his first full season there, Cedillo finished third in the jockey standings with 25 wins, behind leader Flavien Prat (42) and Drayden Van Dyke (32).

With Kentucky Downs sure to set wagering records again at its five-day meet, which ends Thursday, officials at the turf-only track in south-central Kentucky have requested two additional dates from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for its 2020 meet.

“We have the purse money, we have the growth,” said Ted Nicholson, the track’s senior vice president and general manager. “We’re constantly getting asked, why aren’t we running seven days? It does lend itself to the obvious. At some point this has to happen, and next year is where we feel it should start.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Few people are more closely affiliated with Churchill Downs than Dale Romans. As the leading trainer in track history with 729 wins, his level of success is exceeded only by his desire to win the track’s signature race.

“You never really take your eye off the Kentucky Derby,” said Romans. “It’s always there somewhere in the back of your mind.”

Rotation took care of some unfinished family business last Saturday in the Grade 3, $300,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.

The horse bred and owned by Ron Winchell and his mother, Joan, captured the meet’s marquee race nearly three decades after the family brought a very high-profile runner to town for the 1991 running of the Super Derby.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Local fan favorite Melmich will be honored with a retirement ceremony on Woodbine Mile Day here Saturday.

Melmich was a $20,000 claim in 2014 by trainer Kevin Attard for owners Stephen Chesney and Cory Hoffman. The 8-year-old gelding ultimately put together a career record of 17-16-5 from 46 starts, while amassing $1,388,331 in earnings.

Melmich was recently retired to the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society’s farm in Hillsburgh, Ontario, where he will be assessed for aptitude for a post-racing career and put up for adoption.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A big weekend of turf racing is ahead at Woodbine, with four graded stakes headlined by Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile.

A field of 10 is expected for the Woodbine Mile, led by Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap winner Got Stormy.

Got Stormy put together two victories in seven days at Saratoga last month. She won the De La Rose Stakes on Aug. 3 and ran back to win the Fourstardave over males with a 108 Beyer Figure Aug. 10. Got Stormy also has experience over the Woodbine surface, having won the Grade 3 Ontario Colleen Stakes here in July 2018.

Remington Park is not accepting main-track-only entries for turf races at its meet, which opened Aug. 23.

The hope is the move will help Remington maintain the large field sizes it is known for, according to racing secretary Tim Williams.

Williams said the decision was made on the theory that horses entered in turf races that end up being moved to the main track will be less likely to scratch if they are not running against main-track specialists.

Alysheba was part of a banner class that entered the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame on Friday night at Retama Park. He was enshrined alongside Streakin Six, John Adger, Keith and Marilyn Asmussen, Johnny Cox, Ted Keefer, and Bob and Janice McNair.

Alysheba’s entrance into the Texas Hall has great meaning to the family of the late Clarence and Dorothy Scharbauer, according to Ken Carson, general manager of Valor Farm in Pilot Point, Texas. Dorothy raced Alysheba with her daughter, Pam.