LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Larry Melancon visited Churchill Downs twice during the final few days of the meet as the retired jockey continues to recover from a debilitating stroke he suffered March 3 while vacationing in North Carolina.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Put Da Blame On Me held off Mines and Magic following a torrid throwdown in the Thursday feature at Churchill and probably stamped her ticket to the biggest race of the Ellis Park meet, the Grade 3, $100,000 Groupie Doll.

With Jimmy Graham riding for trainer Mike Tomlinson, Put Da Blame On Me beat Mines and Magic by a head in the $59,188 allowance at seven furlongs. Both 4-year-old fillies were scratched from the Grade 3 Chicago Handicap five days earlier.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The bulk of the Churchill Downs riding colony will stay in Kentucky for much of the summer and move two hours westward to Ellis Park, although a few will ride at Saratoga and other tracks. Ellis, which begins its meet Saturday, will run Fridays through Sundays following a four-day holiday weekend to open the 31-day meet.

Julien Leparoux, Florent Geroux, and Shaun Bridgmohan are the only Churchill regulars who intend to ride daily at Saratoga, which runs July 21 to Sept. 4, but other Kentucky jockeys will make spot appearances there and elsewhere.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – State of Honor will join an exclusive club on Sunday at Woodbine in the $1 million Queen’s Plate: He will become just the fifth horse in the last 50 years to run in both the Kentucky Derby and the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.

Owners Manfred and Penny Conrad of Conrad Farms certainly are enjoying the ride.

“We’re very excited to be in another big race,” Manfred Conrad said.

Beach Patrol will take on the California shippers Itsinthepost and Liam the Charmer in the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park on Saturday. The $300,000 turf marathon has drawn a field of nine and will be the finale on an 11-race card.

Beach Patrol is one of the top turf runners in the country, but he's been having trouble finishing off his competition and has not won in five starts since his victory last August at Arlington Park in the Grade 1 Secretariat. Most recently, he finished fourth, beaten 1 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 1 Manhattan at Belmont Park.

Alex Canchari has come so close to winning riding titles at Canterbury Park. Last year, he fell one win short of leading rider Dean Butler, and the same thing happened in 2014. In 2013, Canchari finished the Canterbury meet two wins out of the top spot.

This summer, Canchari had just come back from a three-day suspension to win six races on June 15 and June 16 at Canterbury and take a one-win lead in the rider standings when, through his own doing, he compromised his chance of winning his first Canterbury title.

It’s gotten to the point that 4-year-old Hay Dakota looks like a solid Grade 3 sort of turf-route horse, but trainer Joel Berndt still is leaning against shipping him to Arlington for either the Grade 3 Stars and Stripes over 1 1/2 miles or the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap over 1 1/4 miles on July 8.

Instead, he could bide his time and point Hay Dakota to the $50,000 Brooks Field Stakes on Aug. 26 at Canterbury, perhaps with some interim start as yet undetermined.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine Oaks winner Holy Helena was made the 3-1 morning-line favorite in a 13-horse field of Canadian-bred 3-year-olds for the 158th running of the $1 million Queen’s Plate at the pick-your-post draw on Wednesday.

Owned by Stronach Stable and trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Holy Helena will be making just her fourth start on Sunday, from post 3, in the 10-furlong test. Her Oaks rider, Luis Contreras, was aboard when the athletic daughter of Ghostzapper worked an easy five-eighths in 1:01.80 on the Tapeta on Monday.

Trainer Carlos Martin sent out Morning Breez for a good-looking debut win last Friday at Belmont Park. A New York-bred 2-year-old colt, Morning Breez came from just off the pace to score by 4 1/4 lengths while covering 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.16.

“He came out of the race great,” Martin said. “He has a lot of class, and we thought he might give us more in a race than we’d asked him for in the mornings.”

Ken McPeek likely will have starters in both the Belmont Derby Invitational and the Belmont Oaks, Grade 1 races that will be run at 1 1/4 miles over the inner turf July 8. The Belmont Derby has a purse of $1.2 million, and the Belmont Oaks will be worth $1 million.

The July 8 Stars and Stripes Festival card also will include the Grade 2, $750,000 Suburban at 1 1/4 miles; the Grade 3, $400,000 Dwyer, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds; and the Grade 2, $350,000 Belmont Sprint Championship at seven furlongs.