SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – American Guru, an impressive allowance winner at Belmont Park on July 7, worked a half-mile in 49.85 seconds Friday over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga.

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said American Guru could be considered for the Grade 1 Fourstardave on Aug. 11. Jerkens was initially planning on running Delta Prince in that spot, but owner Frank Stronach has indicated that he wants to wait for the Woodbine Mile to run that horse.

“We got to try two turns sooner or later,” Jerkens said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Steve Asmussen has Tenfold pointing to the Jim Dandy and Zing Zang to the Curlin.

On Friday, he worked Combatant on the turf and was pleased enough with what he saw to point him to the Grade 2, $200,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes on turf here Aug. 3.

“I thought he worked great,” Asmussen said. “It makes it feel like the Hall of Fame. Makes me wonder what I’m going to do with Reride. The Jim Dandy is a possibility. He’s freakishly versatile.”

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Karl Broberg leads all trainers in wins in North America this year and sits atop the meet standings at his home track of Lone Star Park, Evangeline Downs, and Prairie Meadows. Running his stable involves a lot of moving parts, but the 47-year-old Chicago native keeps things tight.  

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The ranks have thinned considerably among 3-year-olds to the point where the two stakes in the division scheduled for Saratoga next week are likely to attract small fields.

Next Friday’s $100,000 Curlin Stakes has only three horses that, as of Friday, are considered definite – Hofburg, Bourbon Resolution, and Zing Zang.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Moonshine Memories, a two-time Grade 1 winner in 2017, on Thursday won for the first time in three starts this year, taking an allowance race for 3-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar.

The win confirmed plans to send her to Saratoga for the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes on Sept. 3. The $250,000 Prioress is run at six furlongs, a distance Moonshine Memories may prefer at this stage of her career, trainer Simon Callaghan said.

“I think six furlongs might be better for her than 6 1/2,” he said. “The way she is, she’s definitely more of a sprinter.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – Axelrod, the winner of the Grade 3 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand on July 14, is scheduled to have his Grade 1 debut in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 25.

Trainer Michael McCarthy said on Friday that the purse and distance of the Travers Stakes make it an appealing race for Axelrod, who races for Slam Dunk Racing.

“He was surging the other day,” McCarthy said of the Indiana Derby. “It will be a new dimension if we choose that.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – Summer vacation ended for jockey Mike Smith with the start of the Del Mar meeting on Wednesday.

The Hall of Famer won Wednesday on Shivermetimbers, his first mount in more than two weeks. He did not have another mount scheduled until Friday.

“I’ve been gone so long that I didn’t have much business,” Smith said in the stables on Thursday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Southern Phantom has certainly caught people’s attention because of his looks. Saturday, we’ll find out if there’s more to the story.

Southern Phantom, the 2-year-old with the all-white face and two different colored eyes, makes his career debut in the sixth race at Saratoga going 5 1/2 furlongs.

“He’s been famous since he came out of the womb,” trainer Eric Guillot said Thursday. “He’s got a good mind because of that.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Awesome Slew won a first-level allowance race at Monmouth Park on May 21, 2016. Since then, he’s competed in 17 consecutive stakes races, winning a trio of Grade 3 events.

Following an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap last month, Awesome Slew will run in a stakes-caliber allowance race Saturday at Saratoga.

“It’s a lot easier than what he’s been running in,” trainer Mark Casse said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey David Cohen, who was refused a jockey’s license by the New York State Gaming Commission on July 12 due to failure to comply with licensing requirements, was granted a valid receipt on Thursday and is cleared to ride.

Cohen, who was unable to be named on horses for either Friday or Saturday’s cards at Saratoga, was expected to be named on horses for Sunday and Monday’s Saratoga programs. Entries for those cards were taken Thursday.