ARCADIA, Calif. – Secret Spice may have earned a spot in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in late December with an 11 1/4-length win in an optional claimer last Sunday at Santa Anita.

Secret Spice won for the second time in her eight-race career. She ran a mile in 1:36.01, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 102.

At Del Mar, Secret Spice was beaten a neck in a similar race Aug. 17 in her second race following a layoff of more than five months.

“I thought she’d win at Del Mar,” trainer Richard Baltas said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Last Sunday, a day after Its Gonna Hurt won the $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes for 2-year-old turf sprinters at Santa Anita, trainer Brian Koriner received a friendly email from Breeders’ Cup officials.

The message reminded Koriner that Its Gonna Hurt had earned a fees-paid berth to the $1 million BC Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.

“We’ll go,” Koriner said. “It’s stupid not to go. You’re being treated like a VIP. How do you not show up for a minute?”

MIAMI – Quijote kept his record perfect at Gulfstream Park West while giving trainer Sally Mitchelhill her second victory since 2015 by rallying to a six-length victory in Sunday’s main event.

Pressure comes with the job as a trainer, and Hall of Fame horseman Steve Asmussen was feeling it late last month when She’s a Julie ran in the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks.

But it wasn’t because the filly was expected to win as an odds-on favorite.

Carrol Castille, who co-owns She’s a Julie through his Whispering Oaks Farm, named the daughter of Elusive Quality for Asmussen’s wife, Julie, in a special gesture. Julie Asmussen has since successfully battled cancer.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Sippican Harbor, the Grade 1 Spinaway winner, worked a solid six furlongs in 1:13.81 Monday morning over Belmont Park’s training track as she continues preparations for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Travers winner Catholic Boy skipped a workout this weekend, owing to a temperature that trainer Jonathan Thomas said shouldn’t prevent the 3-year-old from making the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.

“It’s very minor in the grand scheme of things,” Thomas said Monday. “He had a mild temperature, which has since rectified. We just didn’t want to take any chances. I’m anticipating being able to breeze him this weekend. I’m glad it’s a month out and not a week out.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Got Stormy, who won stakes at three different tracks in 50 days during the spring and summer, returns from a three-month freshening in Saturday’s $200,000 Pebbles Stakes at Belmont Park.

Got Stormy, trained by Mark Casse, won the Penn Oaks at Penn National on June 2, the Wild Applause at Belmont on June 23, and the Grade 3 Ontario Colleen Stakes at Woodbine on July 21. All three races were at a mile, the same distance as the Pebbles.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Skye Diamonds was in the winner’s circle minutes after Sunday’s Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes at Santa Anita, with one prominent member of her team absent.

Trainer Bill Spawr was on the other side of the grandstand, bound for the paddock. The next race was for a sprint for $10,000 claimers and Spawr had a potential purchase in mind.

“I wanted to look at a horse,” he said.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rushing Fall will return to the scene of her career breakthrough as a solid favorite Saturday in a prospective field of nine 3-year-old turf fillies in the Grade 1, $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.

It was last October here in her second race, the Jessamine, that Rushing Fall drew national attention with an eye-catching 3 1/4-length triumph. That race catapulted her to a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar and made her a finalist for a divisional Eclipse Award.

MIAMI – It’s easy to understand why trainer Antonio Sano’s confidence level entering the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Gunnevera is a lot higher than it was when he sent his star out to Del Mar to finish in a dead heat for fifth in the big event one year ago.

“He’s a year older, more experienced, and there are no Gun Runners or Arrogates in the field this year,” Sano said from Gulfstream Park West on Monday.