DEL MAR, Calif. – Oregon, once best known as the workmate for his younger stablemate Gormley when Gormley was preparing for the spring classics, is starting to blaze his own trail.

Oregon has won two straight races on turf, one at Santa Anita, one here at Del Mar, and will go for three Saturday in race 7, an optional claimer at one mile on grass.

“We’re very excited about him,” his trainer, John Shirreffs, said at his barn Thursday morning. Shirreffs said he has his “fingers crossed” that Oregon is developing into a stakes horse.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Blackjackcat won the most important race of his career in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile last Sunday, a key prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Mile here Nov. 4. Now trainer Mark Glatt is concerned Blackjackcat must accomplish more to secure a berth in the BC Mile.

Glatt said he is reluctant to ship Blackjackcat out of California and is hoping to use the $75,000 Obviously Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 7 as a prep for the BC Mile.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The single ticket jackpot pool of the pick six has grown to $121,137 for Thursday’s program at Del Mar.

The bet was popular Wednesday, a day that began with a carryover of $147,012 in the main pool and $31,502 in the single-ticket pool from Sunday. The pool of new money Wednesday was $782,965.

There were 16 tickets with six winners, which were worth $36,237. Consolation tickets with five winners paid $174.20.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Timeline is being pointed to the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 23, according to trainer Chad Brown.

Timeline had a rough trip as the 19-10 favorite in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 30, but came out of the race well and has since had two half-mile workouts at Belmont Park. The son of Hard Spun breezed in 49.60 seconds on Aug. 12 and in 48.20 on Aug. 20.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In a surprising move, trainer Chad Brown entered Lady Eli in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa Stakes, adding another big name to a star-studded lineup for the 13-race Travers Stakes card at Saratoga.

The Ballston Spa goes as race 12, immediately following the Grade 1 Travers, which features Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, Preakness winner Cloud Computing, and Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit. The card also includes the Grade 1 Personal Ensign, topped by two-time Eclipse Award champion Songbird.

Eleven horses were entered Wednesday for the $200,000 Mystic Lake Derby, a one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds that headlines a three-stakes card Saturday at Canterbury.

From the rail out, the field, which lacks standouts, includes Siem Riep, Line Judge, Sakonnet, Red Corvette, Witt’sdollarnight, Mongolian Greywold, My Bariley, Diamondmaze, Giant Payday, Jack Snipe’s, and Hot Shot Kid.

Mr. Jagermeister, a Minnesota-bred, is the second-fastest 2-year-old to race so far this summer at Canterbury. After finishing second as the heavy favorite last out in the Prairie Gold Juvenile at Prairie Meadows, Mr. Jagermeister dominated Minnesota-breds for the second time this summer winning the $85,000 Northern Lights Futurity by 15 1/2 lengths this past Sunday.

Amy’s Challenge, the promising 2-year-old filly based at Canterbury Park with trainer Mac Robertson, had her first work Wednesday since a sharp debut win, and her connections have plotted the outline of a late-summer and fall campaign.

Amy’s Challenge officially worked five furlongs in 1:00.13, though Robertson said the work was set up more as a half-mile drill. Robertson said he timed Amy’s Challenge’s first furlong in about 13 seconds and that she had gotten her last eighth in roughly 11 seconds, a flashy come-home time for what was not intended to be a strong breeze.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Robby Albarado thought he had it won. Charging down the center of the Saratoga main track aboard Mambo in Seattle in the 2008 Travers Stakes, Albarado hooked up with Colonel John and Garrett Gomez inside the eighth pole, and the horses were inseparable for the last sixteenth of a mile.

After the two colts hit the wire, Albarado raised his whip triumphantly, thinking he had nailed Colonel John on the money. The photo showed a different result.

The Timonium race meet at the Maryland State Fair begins a seven-day run Friday with higher purses and, for the first time in years, a stakes race.

Racing will be offered over the five-furlong track this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and from Friday to Monday next week. The meet closes on Labor Day.

Purses will average $185,000 per day, up from $160,000 a year ago, an increase of 16 percent. The suburban Baltimore-area track will hold the $75,000 Coalition Stakes on Saturday, a 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and upward.