SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On the final Sunday of the 2017 Saratoga meet, trainer Ralph Nicks sent out a debuting 2-year-old filly to win a seven-furlong maiden race at Saratoga at odds of 10-1.

That filly, Caledonia Road, would two months later win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and be crowned champion 2-year-old filly.

On Sunday, Nicks will send out another debuting 2-year-old filly in a seven-furlong maiden race at Saratoga. It is highly unlikely Graceful Princess will go off at similar odds as Caledonia Road.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Cloud Computing, the 2017 Preakness winner, recently rejoined trainer Chad Brown’s Belmont Park string and is likely to make it back to the races later this fall.

Cloud Computing finished fourth, beaten a neck, in the Grade 3 Westchester at Belmont on May 5. He came out of that race with an ankle chip that was surgically removed.

After Monday’s closing day of the Del Mar summer meeting, daytime Thoroughbred racing resumes in Southern California with Thursday’s opening day of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos.

The 12-day season runs through Sept. 23 on a Thursday-through-Sunday basis.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Instagrand, the unbeaten leading 2-year-old in California, will not start in Monday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity and will be pointed for the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 29, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Friday.

Instagrand, owned by Larry Best, would have been favored in the $300,000 Del Mar Futurity.

“Larry Best did not want to run,” Hollendorfer said.

Hollendorfer said the decision to skip the Del Mar Futurity with Instagrand was made on Friday morning.

“The horse is in good condition,” Hollendorfer said.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Pavel, the winner of the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs in June and second in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 18, is in the midst of a two-week break at a local farm.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said on Friday that Pavel remains a contender for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3 and will not have a start in the interim.

“We’re giving him a little break at the farm, and I’m thinking of training him up to the Breeders’ Cup,” O’Neill said.

The second Century Downs Thoroughbred meet begins Sunday and runs through Oct. 28. There are 21 days scheduled, compared with 16 last year (one card was not completed because of severe weather).

For the first three weeks of the meet, racing will be held on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. Mondays will then be dropped for the rest of the meet, excluding Canadian Thanksgiving on Oct. 8. Post time is 1:15 p.m. Mountain.

Laurel Park will be the hub for The Stronach Group's new wager, the Stronach 5, when it debuts Sept. 28, opening day of the Santa Anita fall meet, according to Sal Sinatra, president of the Maryland Jockey Club.

The Stronach 5 will be a pick five that incorporates races from different Stronach tracks. The opening Stronach 5 will include Gulfstream Park, Laurel Park, and Golden Gate Fields in addition to Santa Anita. The wager will be offered every Friday.

"The goal is to run all five races in under an hour, possibly in as little as 45 minutes," Sinatra said.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Gum Tree Lane will have his career debut in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Saturday. That may be Gum Tree Lane’s only appearance in a one-turn race for the foreseeable future.

“We’re intently looking to stretch him out down the road,” trainer Phil D’Amato said on Thursday. “I think his biggest asset is he’s got a big, long stride and a great airway. He seems to get better with distance.”

DEL MAR, Calif. - A two-win day on Wednesday marked a successful start to the final week of the Del Mar summer season for Peter Miller, who is well clear in the trainer standings in advance of Monday’s closing day.

Miller is not coasting to the finish. Saturday, he has 11 runners in the first nine races on an 11-race program. Miller entered 18 horses, but some of the races didn't fill.

“I think 18 is a record for me,” Miller said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dream Tree, undefeated in four starts, returns from a seven-month layoff in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Prioress Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs.

It will be the first start for Dream Tree since she won the Grade 2 La Virgenes going a mile at Santa Anita on Feb. 4.

“I wasn’t happy with the way she was training,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “She was losing interest, so I just stopped on her. She’s doing well now.”