DEL MAR, Calif. – On July 24, 2015, Terrys Tom Cat made his first start at Del Mar, scoring a 10-1 upset in an optional claimer in which he was entered for a $40,000 claiming price.

He came back in the summer of 2016 and won again. He came back in the summer of 2017 and won again. And in the summer of 2018 . . . oh, you probably can guess.

Now age 8 and a veteran of 52 starts, Terrys Tom Cat will try to win a race at Del Mar for the fifth straight summer when he competes Thursday in race 2, a $32,000 claiming race at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After a pair of impressive victories on Tapeta, Mr. Hustle will make his next start on the turf, as trainer Roger Attfield will point the 2-year-old son of Declaration of War to the $100,000 Soaring Free Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 18.

Should all go well in the Soaring Free, Attfield said he would then point Mr. Hustle to the Grade 1, $250,000 Summer Stakes on turf Sept. 15. Attfield is confident that Mr. Hustle will be able to handle the surface switch.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Catalina Cruiser has yet to race beyond 1 1/16 miles, but he will be strongly considered for the meet’s premier race, the 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic on Aug. 17, following his victory on Saturday in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap, trainer John Sadler said.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Leading Score, a half-brother to two-time champion Indian Blessing, makes his first start since November 2017 in a one-mile second-level allowance on Wednesday, race 4 on the card.

Leading Score has won twice in six starts, including a one-mile first-level allowance at Los Alamitos in September 2017. He went to the sidelines after finishing sixth in the Damascus at Santa Anita in his next start. Trainer Bob Baffert said Leading Score was off owing to a tibia injury.

“He’s doing well, but he might need a race,” said Baffert.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – From the something-you-don’t-see-every-day department, a mare and her first foal will be racing on the same card Wednesday at Saratoga.

When owner Bill Heiligbrodt attended an auction of 2-year-olds in training in Florida back in April 2017, there was one thing he knew for certain about a bay colt by Eskendereya.

“I wasn’t leaving there without him,” he said.

Heiligbrodt’s wife, Corinne, would name the colt Mitole. It was a nod to the Karankawa Indians who once populated the Texas Gulf Coast region where both she and her husband were raised, and it fit on pedigree, as the colt was out of the Indian Charlie mare Indian Miss.

Mary Eppler wouldn’t dare say aloud that Ice Tea might be her next Page McKenney, but you couldn’t blame her for hoping.

Eppler was in Florida over the weekend to watch Ice Tea win Sunday for the third straight time in four starts since she claimed the 5-year-old gelding for owner Sean Dobbs of Flying Pheasant Farm. Ice Tea now has earned Beyer Speed Figures of 89, 100, and 96 following a 7 1/2-length romp in a Sunday allowance at Gulfstream Park.

“He’s healthy now,” Eppler said Monday from her Wellington, Fla., home. “He’s done everything we’ve asked of him so far.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Summer Sunday ($7.50) turned in another powerful front-running performance to win her third straight stakes under Rafael Hernandez in Sunday’s Grade 2 Royal North at Woodbine.

Summer Sunday went with outsider Veil through a moderate first quarter before assuming command exiting the turn in the six-furlong turf sprint. She maintained a slim lead through the stretch and got home on top by 1 1/4 lengths over 10-1 shot Magic Spell, finishing in 1:08.26 over the firm ground.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Come Dancing, the dominant winner of the Grade 2 Ruffian and Grade 3 Distaff Handicap this year, returned to the work tab Sunday, breezing three furlongs in 35.97 seconds over Saratoga’s main track.

It was Come Dancing’s first work since she finished second behind Midnight Bisou in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park on June 8. Javier Castellano was aboard for the work and will ride Come Dancing in the Grade 1 Ballerina here Aug. 24, trainer Carlos Martin said. Manny Franco had ridden the 5-year-old mare in all of her starts this year.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There are a lot of adjectives that can be used to describe freakishly fast workouts. But it’s hard to find the right word to convey the proper reactions to the show trainer Jorge Navarro’s unbeaten 3-year-old Shancelot put on over the main track during the late stages of training hours here Sunday in preparation for next Sunday’s Grade 2 Amsterdam.