ELMONT, N.Y. – By the Moon and Highway Star, separated by a head in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga on Aug. 26, could meet again in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont Park on Sept. 24.

Trainer Michelle Nevin said she and owner Samantha Siegel “haven’t decided yet” whether to use the Gallant Bloom as a stepping-stone for By the Moon to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Last year, By the Moon finished second in the Ballerina and went straight to the Filly and Mare Sprint, where she finished fifth, beaten three lengths.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Jimmy Toner has eschewed the conservative approach he was going to take with Defiant Honor and has decided to run her in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Sands Point Stakes, the first graded event of the Belmont Park fall meet.

Defiant Honor won the $100,000 Riskaverse Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24. Afterward, Toner said he would likely wait for a race like the Pebbles on Nov. 14, a non-graded $200,000 stakes at one mile. The Sands Point is at 1 1/8 miles.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Tapwrit, the Belmont Stakes winner, came out of his fourth-place finish in the Travers Stakes on Aug 26 with an injured right front foot that will sideline him for the immediate future and potentially could end his 3-year-old season, co-owner Aron Wellman said Wednesday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A funeral will be held Thursday for Woodbine outrider and exercise rider Darren Fortune, who died in a training accident last Friday at age 43.

Visitation will be from 12-1 p.m. at the Newediuk Funeral Home, Kipling Chapel, at 2058 Kipling Ave. in Toronto. The funeral will follow there from 1-2 p.m.

Fortune was the main exercise rider for trainer Nick Gonzalez, and was an outrider who worked for Woodbine during the races.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Four years ago, it was raw and unshaped. Now, the September meet at Churchill Downs has found a rhythm and purpose as a meet of intrigue and importance.

An 11-day stand that includes eight stakes and a bolstered purse structure begins Friday under the twin spires, and unlike in 2013 – the first year Churchill assumed dates long held by Turfway Park – it’s a meet standing proudly on its own after initially trying to find its legs like a newborn foal.

“Every September gets a little better than the previous one,” said Churchill racing secretary Ben Huffman.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Among the new faces at the September meet is trainer Robertino Diodoro, who has been active this year in Southern California and New York while maintaining a sizable Midwest string that went from Oaklawn to Canterbury Park and Prairie Meadows and now to Churchill for the first time.

The Canadian-born Diodoro, 43, entered this week tied for fourth in North America in wins (148) and is on pace to surpass his career high in stable earnings, set last year with more than $4.6 million.

Big World possible for Spinster

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The final Saturday of the Churchill Downs meet, Sept. 30, is one to look forward to, especially with the Grade 3 Ack Ack shaping up with such a good matchup.

Tom’s Ready, Warrior’s Club, and The Player are the known prospects for the Ack Ack, a one-turn mile that serves as a lead-in to the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kenny McPeek was still a bit jet-lagged Tuesday after returning the previous day from his long trip to South Korea, where the trainer sent out The Truth Or Else to a fourth-place finish in a race called the Keeneland Sprint.

“I’ll be fine in a day or two,” said McPeek.

McPeek would be doing even better this weekend with good showings at Churchill Downs from his star 2-year-olds Sunny Skies and Ten City, who are among the top contenders in the Saturday co-features, the Grade 2 Pocahontas and Grade 3 Iroquois.

ELMONT, N.Y. – New York horsemen in conjunction with Shirley Feed, a feed and supply store on Long Island, are helping to feed starving horses in Texas.

Shirley Feed has arranged to bring trailer loads of feed to the Houston area where there are approximately 10,000 starving horses as result of Hurricane Harvey. Horsemen can purchase a pallet of feed ($320) or a half-pallet ($160). A pallet is made up of 40 50-pound bags.

Donna Keen, wife of trainer Dallas Keen, will serve as the liaison for distribution in the Houston area.

Diabolical Dame, who led a Todd Fincher-trained superfecta in the $70,000 Carlos Salazar last month at the Downs at Albuquerque, will now target the New Mexico Cup program at Zia Park. Fincher said the mare is being pointed for the $140,000 Distaff, a six-furlong race for New Mexico-breds on Oct. 29. Diabolical Dame is a winner of 14 of 23 starts and she has earned $590,980.