ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Silent Sting stamped himself as a contender for the $1 million Queen’s Plate with his win in the Queenston Stakes here on April 22, and will make his next start in the $125,000 Plate Trial Stakes on June 9, trainer Sid Attard said.

Silent Sting will aim to deliver a second consecutive Queen’s Plate victory for owner Stronach Stables after the outfit won the race with Holy Helena last year. Stronach Stables also won the Queen’s Plate in 2015 with Shaman Ghost. This year’s Queen’s Plate is set for June 30.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mike Maker has shipped in to win some big races at Woodbine in recent years, including the 2016 Queen’s Plate with Sir Dudley Digges. This season, Maker will run a regular string at Woodbine and has a 22-stall allocation on the Woodbine backstretch.

Overseeing Maker’s string at Woodbine this season is Nolan Ramsey, the grandson of Kentucky owners and breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

Ramsey said he has six horses at Woodbine with him right now, but expects most of the 22 stalls will be full by the end of the month.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Baffert had been back at his Churchill Downs barn for maybe an hour Monday morning before he finally noticed the new plaque on the cement-block wall commemorating the 2018 Kentucky Derby victory by Justify.

“It’s already up there, huh?” he said, adding with a laugh “They need to extend this wall.”

Justify was chased home by 19 horses in the Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs, but when he lines up for the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico it appears as few as seven will try to stop him from sweeping the Triple Crown.

When it comes to the Preakness, John Servis and Chuck Zacney have been there, done that – just not lately. Between them, they took down four of the six legs of the Triple Crown in 2004 and 2005.

Servis trained 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones on behalf of the Someday Farm of Roy and Pat Chapman. Zacney’s Cash Is King Stable owned Afleet Alex, who accounted for the following season’s Preakness and Belmont Stakes under the direction of trainer Tim Ritchey.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Brendan Walsh said that Proctor’s Ledge, winner of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile on the Derby undercard, likely will make her next start in the Grade 1 Just a Game on the June 9 Belmont Stakes undercard, with the Diana at Saratoga being a longer-term objective.

Walsh also reaffirmed that Beckford, winner of the opening-night William Walker, will run next in the Group 1 Commonwealth on June 22 at Royal Ascot. Killay, a sharp allowance winner on the May 4 Kentucky Oaks undercard, likely will run back in another allowance, said Walsh.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Since Churchill first began running turf races in 1987, all sprints over the turf course have been at five furlongs. That’s about to change, as the first 5 1/2-furlong turf race will be run here Thursday as the seventh and featured race.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – McCraken will make his next start in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile after exiting a flashy Kentucky Derby Day allowance victory at Churchill Downs in good order.

Making his first start in more than six months, McCraken swept from last to first in the one-mile allowance and earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure, tying a career high. Trainer Ian Wilkes is intent on more races at or around a mile in hoping the 4-year-old colt will prove worthy of a berth in the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Tijori is being pointed to a stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Belmont Park following a striking win in her debut last Friday at Santa Anita, although a trip to Royal Ascot is still a possibility.

Trainer Simon Callaghan said he is leaning toward starting Tijori in the $150,000 Astoria Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs at Belmont Park on June 7 instead of the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Royal Ascot on June 20. The Queen Mary Stakes has a purse of approximately $148,500.

ARCADIA, Calif. – What a View is unlikely to try for a repeat victory in the $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes for California-bred turf milers at Santa Anita on Sunday.

Trainer Kenny Black said on Sunday that he is leaning toward starting the 7-year-old What a View in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes, a $200,000 race at 1 1/4 miles on turf May 26, with the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf May 28 a less likely option.