SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Eskimo Kisses, the dominant winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes, likely will step out of the 3-year-old filly division and point to the Grade 1, $500,000 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 7 for next race as her connections plot out a path to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Topped by Belmont Stakes runner-up Gronkowski, Preakness runner-up Bravazo, and Jim Dandy winner Tenfold, six of the expected 12 entrants for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes put in workouts Sunday morning at Saratoga.

Gronkowski, working with Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Instilled Regard, went five furlongs in 1:00.02, getting his last three furlongs in 35.81 seconds. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.71 while pulling away from Instilled Regard.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Hofburg, the dominant winner of the Curlin Stakes here on July 27, will miss Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes due to a temperature, trainer Bill Mott said Sunday morning.

Mott said while he expects Hofburg to be fine by Travers Day, he missed a couple of days of training – including a planned final workout Sunday morning – that will keep him out of the Mid-Summer Derby.

“He has a fever, and his bloodwork was a little out of whack,” Mott said. “I suppose he’d be over it by Travers Day, but we’re going to miss the race.”

The field for the Grade 1, $3 million All American Futurity for Quarter Horses next month at Ruidoso Downs has been determined after 32 trials were contested at the New Mexico track Friday and Saturday. Apocalyptical Jess ($6.40) was the fastest qualifier on Day 1 and Pilot Points Moon ($13.20) set the standard on Day 2.

The finale will be run on Sept. 3. Horses with the five fastest times Friday and the five fastest times Saturday earned the 10 available spots in the gate for the All American.

Luis Rivera Jr. rode his 1,559th winner and trained his first when Strawberry Red won race 1 at Monmouth Park on Saturday.

The win was Rivera's first as a rider since June 2017. Strawberry Red, the only horse Rivera trains, was making his third start of the meet.

Trevor McCarthy, Carlos Hernandez, and Jose Ferrer had ridden Strawberry Red in his prior starts, but Rivera climbed aboard for Saturday's $8,000 claiming race. It was his first mount since last October.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Wonder Gadot won’t be the only 3-year-old trainer Mark Casse will be running at Saratoga on Travers Day.

Casse plans to cut Telekinesis back in distance and try him in the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at seven furlongs. Telekinesis, a son of Ghostzapper, finished fifth to Wonder Gadot in the Queen’s Plate after winning the Plate Trial going 1 1/8 miles over Woodbine’s synthetic surface.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While the $100,000 Summer Colony Stakes for fillies and mares may technically be the featured event on Sunday’s 10-race card at Saratoga, a $95,000 allowance race for older sprinters looks more intriguing.

The seven-horse field includes the return of the graded stakes winner Breaking Lucky, who makes his first start in 11 months and first for trainer George Weaver. The field also includes Behavioral Bias, Petrov, and Favorable Outcome.

The shuttering of the Evangeline Training Center near Lafayette, La., on Aug. 15 marked the end of an era in Louisiana. The facility was the original Evangeline Downs racetrack, which moved operations to Opelousas, La., in 2005.

Carrol Castille, a Louisiana breeder and owner, operated the Evangeline Training Center for more than 10 years. The decision to close the facility, which as a racetrack launched the careers of numerous prominent riders and once hosted John Henry, was dictated by economics.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Good Magic beat Mother Nature on Friday and solidified his status as the horse to beat in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers next Saturday with a strong workout over Saratoga’s fast main track.

With unsettled weather in the forecast for Friday into Saturday, trainer Chad Brown moved a planned Saturday workout for Good Magic up a day. And before some showers fell late Friday morning, Good Magic got in a five-furlong breeze in 1:00.76 under exercise rider Walter Melasquez.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The older she’s gotten, the more Finley’sluckycharm has learned to harness her abundant speed. It’s a trait that trainer Bret Calhoun is hoping will serve her well when she seeks her second Grade 1 win of the season here next Saturday in the seven-furlong Ballerina.

Finley’sluckycharm tuned up for the Ballerina working an easy half-mile in 48.66 seconds over the Oklahoma training track Friday.