Jockey Mike Smith, who in two weeks will chase the Triple Crown with Justify, is scheduled to ride Sunday at Lone Star. He has the mount on Mubtaahij in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap.

Smith said Justify has been a blessing and he is looking forward to the Belmont Stakes.

“It’s every rider’s dream to get an opportunity like this,” he said Friday. “First of all, to win a Derby, and a Preakness . . . and now going for the Triple Crown. I’m so excited for the opportunity. I can’t wait.”

Smith is based in Southern California.

Shotgun Kowboy and jockey Luis Quinonez have been stalwarts in the Mid-South region, which includes Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, and on Sunday they will attempt to pull a mild upset in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap.

“It’s a tough race, but he’s that caliber of horse, too,” Quinonez said.

Shotgun Kowboy, a Grade 3 winner, went over $1 million in career earnings on Feb. 3 when he won an allowance at Oaklawn. The 6-year-old won by five lengths in a race run over the same 1 1/16-mile distance of the Lone Star.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Despite a very good chance of rain over the holiday weekend, and after some deliberation on the part of the racing office hierarchy, the Home of the Brave Handicap was drawn Friday for Monday’s special Memorial Day program at Gulfstream Park.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gunnevera, who has been on the farm recuperating from a deep hoof wound suffered during the running of the Dubai World Cup on March 31, will return to Gulfstream Park West next week to begin preparations for the second half of his 2018 campaign, trainer Antonio Sano reported Friday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Next Shares is winless in four starts since joining trainer Richard Baltas’s California stable last fall.

The losing streak has not diminished expectations that Next Shares can win an important stakes on turf, perhaps as quickly as Monday’s Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Monomoy Girl is scheduled to breeze Sunday at Churchill Downs in her second major work since the filly won the May 4 Kentucky Oaks for trainer Brad Cox.

Monomoy Girl went a half-mile last Sunday in 48.80 seconds.

“She came out of the Oaks in great shape,” Cox said.

The Grade 1 Acorn on the Belmont undercard is the next scheduled start for Monomoy Girl, a winner in six of seven career starts.

Wise Dan for turf champ

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With an outstanding win under his belt, McCraken is working at a serious clip toward his litmus test in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile on the June 9 Belmont Stakes undercard.

McCraken is tentatively scheduled to breeze Sunday at Churchill, according to trainer Ian Wilkes, in what would be his third work since a comeback victory on the May 5 Kentucky Derby undercard. The 4-year-old colt went an easy half-mile in 51.20 seconds on May 15, then came back with a bullet five-furlong drill in 58 seconds on May 21.

“I’m very happy with him,” Wilkes said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – California trainer Mark Tsagalakis is switching careers.

Tsagalakis started his last horse last Sunday at Santa Anita and is in the process of launching a consignment business for yearling and broodmare sales in Kentucky, he said Thursday.

Tsagalakis and business partner Terry Nickell will operate Endeavor Farm, and Endeavor Sales, from a farm in Midway, Ky.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After memorable Kentucky Derby and Preakness weekends, Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen will be looking to complete his own Triple Crown of sorts.

On Derby Day, May 5, Asmussen became just the second trainer in North American racing history with 8,000 career wins when Lookin At Lee won a Churchill Downs allowance. And on Preakness Friday and Saturday (May 18-19) at Pimlico, Asmussen earned $50,000 in a trainers’ competition when his stable won for four stakes among other sharp performances.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Medaglia d’Oro colt purchased for $1.2 million at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale in Maryland on Tuesday arrived in California on Wednesday. Thursday morning, the colt was put to work at Santa Anita, jogging a mile.

The expensive price tag for the colt has left bloodstock agent Dennis O’Neill with a clear goal for the summer.

“The Del Mar Futurity,” he replied. “We’ll work our way back from there.”