A promising victory by Amandine in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option at Del Mar on Thursday may be the start off a successful autumn and winter with European imports for the partnership of Red Barons Barn and Rancho Temescal.

Earlier this autumn, the family partnership, headed by father Jed and son Tim Cohen, bought six horses of racing age in England for approximately $680,000. Amandine, a 3-year-old British-bred filly by Shamardal, was not part of that group.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Vekoma, the 1 3/4-length winner of the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 4, will skip next Saturday’s Grade 2 Remsen Stakes here and point to a 3-year-old campaign, trainer George Weaver confirmed Friday.

Weaver noted that Vekoma was a May 22 foal and that he “still has some maturing to do.” The horse has been based at Palm Beach Downs in South Florida since shortly after the Nashua and is in the middle of a 30-day break.

Elysea’s World, the winner of three Grade 3 stakes in the last year, all in Florida and New Jersey, has joined trainer Richard Baltas’s stable at Santa Anita after being bought for $500,000 earlier this month.

Elysea’s World, 5, has won 6 of 22 starts and earned $566,222. Elysea’s World was bought at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale and is now owned by Abbondanza Racing, Jerry McClanahan, and Chris Dunn, Baltas said. Elysea’s World was previously trained by Chad Brown for Sheep Pond Partners and All Pro Racing.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The work jockey Joe Talamo has done with the likes of Dabster in recent months has made him an increasingly vital cog in the barn of trainer Bob Baffert, for whom Talamo teamed last week to win with a pair of promising 2-year-olds, Mucho Gusto and Coliseum.

Dabster will make his fourth start under Talamo on Sunday at Del Mar in the Grade 3 Native Diver. They own two wins and a second in concert. Mucho Gusto and Coliseum are a combined 3 for 3 with Talamo.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Mr Vargas, has been disqualified from a victory in a race at Del Mar on Aug. 18, Del Mar’s stewards ruled this week. Mr Vargas tested in excess of the permitted level of procaine, a Class 3 medication, according to the ruling.

Mr Vargas won the race by three-quarters of a length at odds of 5-1 under Joe Talamo.

The purse has been ordered redistributed, with owner Samantha Siegel and Talamo instructed to return their share to the track’s paymaster of purses by Dec. 18.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A good case could have been made that Pay Any Price deserved a starting berth earlier this month in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. After all, he is the North American record holder going five furlongs on the turf and he had won his last four starts, all at Gulfstream Park, by margins ranging from 1 1/4 to 5 1/4 lengths.

Any hope Rijeka would start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill Downs earlier this month ended when the colt finished a troubled third in the Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 8.

Rijeka did not have the credentials to merit a pre-entry in a race that eventually oversubscribed.

Oxy Lady, the five-length winner of the Grade 3 Tempted Stakes at Aqueduct at odds of 36-1, is being pointed to the Grade 1, $300,000 Starlet Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Los Alamitos on Dec. 8, trainer Jack Sisterson said Friday.

Sisterson, the former assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill, said he prefers the Grade 1 status and the extra week of the Starlet compared to the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle, scheduled for next Saturday at Aqueduct.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After taking a week or so to get used to his new surroundings, Mexican sensation Kukulkan stretched his legs for the first time since arriving at Gulfstream Park and breezed four furlongs in 48.85 on Thanksgiving morning.

More than five months of live action at Tampa Bay Downs gets underway Saturday when the Oldsmar, Fla., track opens the gates for its 93rd season with a 10-race card.

The status quo remains largely in place at Tampa, which is good news, given how popular the track’s simulcast signal has become on the national scene. All-sources handle averaged more than $4 million at the 2017-18 meet, and similar numbers can be expected for 2018-19.