After Borracho finished a strong third in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens last month at Belmont Park, beaten a length by Hog Creek Hustle, the prevailing thinking was that trainer Rusty Arnold would wheel his improving 3-year-old back in the Grade 1 Amsterdam a week from Sunday. Instead, Arnold opted to drop Borracho back into the allowance ranks on Sunday's card at Saratoga, where he’ll take on older horses for the first time in his career.

DEL MAR, Calif. – King Jack gave trainer Dan Ward his first winner at Del Mar on Wednesday since he officially took over the stable from trainer Jerry Hollendorfer earlier this week.

Hollendorfer was denied stalls by Del Mar officials earlier this month. Del Mar’s decision followed action by Santa Anita officials on June 22 ordering Hollendorfer to vacate his stalls at that track after a fourth horse in his care was euthanized as a result of an injury in racing or training since late December.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Two unraced horses were killed and jockey Assael Espinoza was hospitalized after a collision during workouts early Thursday morning at Del Mar.

Carson Valley, a 3-year-old trained by Bob Baffert, and Charge a Bunch, a 2-year-old trained by Carla Gaines, were involved in the accident, track officials said. Charge a Bunch unseated jockey Geovanni Franco on the backstretch and immediately reversed course, running into the first turn in a clockwise direction. The collision took place near the six-furlong pole, witnesses said.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Del Mar opened its 36-day summer meeting on Wednesday with a drop in ontrack attendance and all-sources handle compared to the corresponding day in 2018.

The ontrack audience of 31,276 was the lowest since 28,410 attended opening day in 1999, and was down 5.5 percent from the 33,112 in attendance last year. The all-sources handle, including ontrack, simulcasting and account wagering sources, was $14,843,399, a decline of 7.9 percent from the 2018 total of $16,131,881, but 5 percent higher than the 2017 figure of $14,101,063.

Monmouth Park will have protocols for extreme weather in place Saturday on the Haskell Invitational card. The protocols are intended to help both horses and humans deal with high temperatures and humidity from the ongoing heat wave.

The protocols include having extra emergency medical technicians on hand to help people affected by the heat; having ice containers positioned throughout the track and along the path where the horses walk to the paddock; having additional hoses accessible for horses before and after the races; and having a misting system in the paddock.

Laurel Park, Parx Racing, Delaware Park, and Finger Lakes have canceled their Saturday races due to expected high temperatures and humidity that are expected to persist in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast this weekend.

Laurel also has canceled its Sunday races.

Saratoga has canceled its Saturday card and will now run Saturday's races on Sunday.

Jockey Adam Beschizza has been suspended three racing days by Arlington stewards for interference at the quarter pole of the American Derby on Saturday.

Beschizza rode Faraway Kitten to victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 American Derby, but the stewards sanctioned him for coming in on eventual last-place finisher Strong Will. The suspension covers July 21, July 25, and July 26. Beschizza, an English import who also won the Arlington Handicap on Saturday, is based at Ellis Park.

The 52-year-old jockey E.T. Baird rode his first race since late last summer when he guided Brittney On Blades to a second-place finish in Sunday’s seventh race at Arlington.

Baird for decades was one of the finest gate and front-end jockeys in the Midwest, and he put Brittney On Blades right on the lead.

Faraway Kitten continued his midsummer rise, winning his second straight stakes race, the American Derby, on Saturday at Arlington, and now a colt who as a yearling failed to meet a $35,000 reserve at auction has a date set for the Grade 1 Secretariat on Aug. 10 at Arlington.

The Secretariat was changed from a 1 1/4-mile to a one-mile race this year owing to the creation of the Saratoga Derby, which is expected to draw the best East Coast horses in the division.

It’s been a little more than a year since English export Jack Sisterson took a position in Lexington, Ky., as a trainer for Calumet Farm. The partnership appears to have stuck and had an especially fruitful last weekend.