ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Aidan O’Brien will be represented in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Oaks by Athena, who is running back six days after finishing third in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes at The Curragh in Ireland.

“Personally, it doesn’t bother me,” T.J. Comerford, the traveling assistant to O’Brien, said of the quick turnaround. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

Athena, a daughter of Camelot, has one win from eight starts.

Comerford believes “the mile and a quarter is her trip.” In the 1 1/4-mile Pretty Polly, Comerford said, “she finished up really well.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – In the three runnings of the Belmont Derby in which he has participated, trainer Aidan O’Brien has a win, a second, and a third from five starters.

Saturday, O’Brien is back for another crack at the Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby with Hunting Horn, who is coming off an eye-catching 4 1/2-length victory in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes on June 21 at Royal Ascot.

Hunting Horn drew post 4 in a field of nine 3-year-olds entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Belmont Derby, one of five graded stakes on an 11-race card that begins at 1:30 p.m.

The Retama Park meet that opens Friday night near San Antonio has a completely new format. The track is running a mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses this year instead of separate meets for each breed, and it will conduct its signature races, the El Joven and La Senorita, on a Tuesday card Sept. 4.

The season runs 25 dates through Sept. 5.

The California Horse Racing Board is scheduled to discuss an unresolved financial issue between Golden Gate Fields and the Northern California satellite wagering network and the leading horsemen’s organization at its monthly meeting July 12 at Los Alamitos.

Last month, the racing board gave conditional approval for Golden Gate to race for six weeks, from Aug. 23 to Oct. 1, provided the racetrack agreed to terms on revenue sharing with the satellite network and reached a horsemen’s agreement with the Thoroughbred Owners of California.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Multiple Grade 1 winner Paradise Woods may switch surfaces for her next start.

Trainer Richard Mandella said Wednesday that he may run Paradise Woods in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf Aug. 4 at Del Mar. Mandella said Paradise Woods also is a candidate for the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on dirt July 29 at Del Mar.

“I’m thinking of trying her on turf,” he said. “Her brother Forest Chatter was only turf. She’s got kind of tender feet.”

CYPRESS, Calif. – Justify is having a cool time in the first week of July at trainer Bob Baffert’s stable at Santa Anita.

Without a defined race goal, Justify has been kept in light training in recent weeks, which will continue for the next several days.

“We gallop him one day and walk him one day,” Baffert said. “I’m just chilling with him.”

Justify, unbeaten in six starts, swept the Triple Crown in the spring. After winning the Belmont Stakes on June 9, Justify was shipped to Churchill Downs for a week and then to Baffert’s base at Santa Anita on June 17.

Silvercents put on a show at Lone Star Park on Sunday when she became yet another winner for the hot freshman sire Goldencents.

Her performance was even more impressive considering the conditions.

The temperature hit an afternoon high of 103 degrees as the 2-year-old cruised by 4 3/4 lengths in the maiden special weight. The win came the same day Belmont Park canceled its card due to extreme heat. Delaware Park and Parx Racing also canceled programs this week due to the heat wave on the East Coast.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Aquila failed to live up to expectations as a colt, winning once in five starts and finishing sixth in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita in March.

Friday at Los Alamitos, Aquila will start as a gelding for the first time after a three-month layoff.

Trainer Simon Callaghan hopes Aquila can still develop into the prospect that led to his purchase for $685,000 at a 2-year-olds in training sale in 2017.

“We gave him a little time, and he’s come back good,” Callaghan said. “I think he’s more focused now.”

The New Mexico Racing Commission has announced the bronchodilator clenbuterol will now be regarded as a Class 3 controlled substance in the state in a move that enables criminal prosecution of horsemen found to be illegally in possession of the drug. The agency worked with the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy on the controlled substance designation, according to Izzy Trejo, executive director of the New Mexico Racing Commission.

Lone Star Park Handicap winner Shotgun Kowboy had been under consideration for Friday night’s Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows, but is bypassing the race to freshen for the Remington Park meet, according to his trainer, C.R. Trout.

Trout said Shotgun Kowboy is a candidate for Remington’s $175,000 Governor’s Cup on Sept. 30 and the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup on Oct. 19. Shotgun Kowboy is a two-time winner of the Classics Cup, which is restricted to horses bred in Oklahoma.