Owner Ron Paolucci suffered a major blow when Charles Town Classic winner Imperative incurred an injury this week that will keep him out of next Saturday’s Grade 1 Met Mile. But that setback is not going to keep the enigmatic Paolucci from seeking a slot, should one come available, for the 2018 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Connect, who most likely would have been favored, will miss the Grade 1, $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 10 with an injury, trainer Chad Brown said Wednesday afternoon.

“Connect has unfortunately emerged from his last workout with a minor injury that will keep him out of the Met Mile,” Brown said. “We are currently doing further diagnostics on the colt to determine his racing future.”

Always Sunshine returned from a seven-month layoff with a sharp victory at Monmouth Park on Monday, taking an off-the-turf five-furlong sprint by 4 1/4 lengths for Parx-based trainer Ned Allard.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Phil Serpe had an MRI scheduled for Thursday on his knee, which he first injured this winter in Florida and reinjured Monday while watching Weekend Hideaway win the $200,000 Commentator Stakes at Belmont Park.

“Better me than him,” Serpe said Wednesday morning while watching horses train in the rain at Belmont. “I’ll live to fight another day.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown may send at least two of his three stakes winners from Monday’s Big Apple Showcase Day program against open company.

Kathryn the Wise ran her record to 3 for 3 with an 8 1/4-length victory in the $200,000 Critical Eye. A 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo, Kathryn the Wise has won her first three starts by a combined 25 3/4 lengths.

Meanwhile, Fourstar Crook won her seventh consecutive race, taking the $125,000 Mount Vernon by three-quarters of a length over stablemate Act Naughty.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The list of horsemen sending stock to race in England, especially at Royal Ascot, grows longer each year. Trainer Brad Cox doesn’t have anything for Ascot this season, but it might be something he wants to think about.

Limousine Liberal, winner of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs on the Derby undercard, will be a solid favorite when he turns back from seven to six furlongs Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Aristides, highlight of the coming weekend at Churchill.

Trained by Ben Colebrook for owner-breeder K.K. Ball, Limousine Liberal will start from the outside post with Corey Lanerie up as part of a field that lines up this way: Wabel, Abaa, Union Jackson, Wilbo, Recount, The Truth Or Else, Schivarelli, Limousine Liberal.

The charter flight that will transport likely Belmont Stakes favorite Classic Empire from Louisville to New York on Tuesday will also include quite a few other Kentucky-based stakes horses for that weekend, including at least a couple for the Grade 1 Acorn on the June 10 Belmont undercard.

Salty, fifth in the Kentucky Oaks, and Benner Island, winner of the Grade 2 Eight Belles on the same May 5 card, are headed to the Acorn, while Sailor’s Valentine, sixth in the Oaks off her Ashland Stakes upset, was termed “50-50” this week by trainer Eddie Kenneally for the one-mile race.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockeys Tyler Baze, Kent Desormeaux, and Corey Nakatani have been suspended for three days for causing interference in races at Santa Anita in the last week.

Baze and Nakatani were penalized for separate incidents in the third race last Friday.

Nakatani was cited for crossing over without sufficient clearance on Diplodocus entering the far turn. Diplodocus finished second. There was no change in the order of finish.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Songbird, the two-time champion, had her final major workout before the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park on June 10, going seven furlongs in 1:25.40 at Santa Anita on Wednesday.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer described the workout as “nice and smooth.”