DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Christophe Clement has Malthael nominated to the Grade 3, $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille for 2-year-olds at Del Mar on Sunday, but said that’s only a backup plan in case he can’t run on the turf in a maiden race at Aqueduct on Wednesday.

“It’s been that way since July,” Clement said. “If the race goes, you throw a party, and if it stays on the turf, you throw another party.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – Firm turf and graded stakes are a good exacta for trainer Michael Stidham, who will send west the older horse Synchrony and the 2-year-old filly Elsa for Saturday races at Del Mar as the fall turf festival starts to kick into high gear.

Trainer Brad Cox won his 1,000th race when Play On took the fifth race Sunday at Fair Grounds.

Cox, 38, hit the milestone early in his career. A Louisville native who went regularly to Churchill Downs as a kid and started walking hots on the backside there as a high-schooler, Cox long harbored dreams of becoming a trainer – and has become a bracingly successful one.

There will be sizable carryovers in the pick six and the NYRA Bets Pick 5 on Wednesday at Aqueduct after Miss Mystique closed out the Sunday card with a $71 upset.

Sunday was the third straight day the pick six was not hit at Aqueduct. The Wednesday carryover will be $263,298. There was a carryover of $50,898 into the Sunday races.

Five winners on Sunday paid $655 for $2.

The NYRA Bets Pick 5 carryover on Wednesday will be $37,290.

Pavel, winner earlier this year of the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs, remained in Kentucky after the Breeders' Cup and worked five furlongs in 59 seconds on Sunday at Keeneland in preparation for the Champions Cup at Chukyo Racecourse on Dec. 2.

"We're going to try and make him a dual-continent Grade 1 winner," trainer Doug O'Neill said Sunday at Del Mar.

Sky Promise has likely put himself in the running for a Sovereign Award by becoming the first horse to sweep Western Canada’s three major derbies this past August and September. His next move comes Wednesday in New Mexico, where he goes for his fourth straight stakes win in the $250,000 Zia Park Derby.

The Zia Derby anchors the $1 million Land of Enchantment program. The 10-race card features seven stakes for Thoroughbreds and includes the $250,000 Zia Park Oaks and the $150,000 Zia Park Championship. 

Trainer Joe Sharp came within four wins of the 2017-18 training title at Fair Grounds, and he thinks he has a better stable to attack with this season than last.

“It’s gonna come down to racing luck, of course, but as far as horsepower goes, we’re definitely a little heavier this year,” Sharp said late Thursday afternoon.

It’s not like trainer Gary Scherer is running the whole barn this week. Though, to be fair, he is pouring out basically all the cream in his winter crop in a matter of four days.

On Thursday, Scherer won the $50,000 Tom Benson Memorial Stakes at Fair Grounds with Remember Daisy. On Friday, he was to run Morning Mischief in the $50,000 Mr. Sulu Stakes at Fair Grounds. On Saturday, Brother Richie is in the $100,000 Louisiana Legacy at Delta. And in the Sunday feature at Fair Grounds, Scherer has the promising Shakopee Town, one of the favorites in the $50,000 Happy Ticket Stakes.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Craig Dollase has had two starters through the first seven days of the meet at Del Mar, but things will heat up in a hurry for the trainer on Sunday, when he sends out four runners, including Brandothebartender in the featured $100,000 Cary Grant Stakes for older California-bred sprinters.

Brandothebartender was claimed for $40,000 in August, and already the partnership that owns him is in the black, courtesy of a victory in the California Flag on the downhill turf course at Santa Anita last month.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A record 346 horses have been nominated to the nine Claiming Crown races set for opening day of the 2018-19 Gulfstream Park championship meet on Dec. 1, including World of Trouble, who narrowly lost the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint this month.

Trainer Jason Servis nominated World of Trouble to both the $110,000 Canberbury (five furlongs on turf) and the main event, the $200,000 Jewel (at 1 1/8 miles on dirt).