ELMONT, N.Y. – Last year, trainer Bob Baffert didn’t make his presence felt at Saratoga until late in the meet, when he sent Arrogate and Drefong across the country to win the Travers and King’s Bishop.

Baffert could make a much earlier entrance at Saratoga this summer.

Provided a scheduled workout at Santa Anita on Saturday goes well, Baffert plans to run Abel Tasman in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on July 23.

ELMONT, N.Y. – I Still Miss You, the undefeated winner of the Astoria Stakes on June 8, will drop back in with New York-breds when she heads a field of five entered to run in Sunday’s $125,000 Lynbrook Stakes, the closing-day feature at Belmont Park.

The Lynbrook will go as race 4 on an 11-race card that begins at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Hawksmoor, the winner of the Grade 3 Beaugay and Grade 2 New York stakes, will miss the Grade 1 Diana next weekend at Saratoga after missing a week of training due to illness, trainer Arnaud Delacour said Thursday.

“She got sick last week, her blood work was not very good, so we gave her an easy week,” said Delacour, who last breezed Hawksmoor on July 1 at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. “We’ll probably aim for the Beverly D.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – The Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville Stakes, the co-feature on Friday’s opening-day card at Saratoga, is expected to attract 2-year-old fillies from as many as five different locales.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Field sizes continue to be a concern at the Los Alamitos eight-day summer meeting, which ends Sunday.

Nine races were originally scheduled for Saturday’s program, but the track has carded eight, including the $200,000 Los Alamitos Derby.

During the meeting’s first week July 6-9, fields averaged 6.97 starters per race, compared with 7.9 starters per race at last December’s meeting. The December meeting had the highest average field size since the track was expanded in early 2014 to host afternoon Thoroughbred races.

Led by the unbeaten Arms Runner, trainer Peter Miller may have as many as four starters in Wednesday’s $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds at Del Mar.

The Oceanside Stakes, at a mile on turf, is the featured race on opening day of the track’s summer meeting. Miller’s other hopefuls include Allaboutmike, Tell Me a Story, and Vending Machine.

Arms Runner has won twice, including the Desert Code Stakes for sprinters at Santa Anita in May. This will be the longest race of his career.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Miller said of the distance.

Ibaka, a seven-time stakes winner who won an optional $35,000 claiming race last Saturday at Lone Star in his first out since December, could return to stakes action next month, said trainer Bret Calhoun. The horse is a candidate for the $50,000 John Henry on Aug. 5 at Louisiana Downs.

“That’s kind of what we’re thinking with him,” said Calhoun, who trains Ibaka for Doug Wall. “The timing would be very good for us, and it would be a good spot for him. So, that’s what we’re looking at right now.”

The field for the $100,000 Louisiana Legends Turf on Monday at Louisiana Down is missing a notable entrant – the millionaire String King. The horse who has won three runnings of the race had been scheduled to make his first start since December in June, but a “slight” physical setback caused him to miss 30 days of training, breeder, owner, and trainer Charlie Smith said Tuesday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – With 16 wins over the last seven racing days, including a five-win day last Saturday, Jose Ortiz has erased a nine-win deficit and for the first time at this meet has moved atop the rider standings, 59-58, over his brother Irad.

The brothers figure to have an intriguing showdown as both will be at riding at Belmont on all four days of the meet’s final week. On Thursday and Friday, Jose Ortiz was named to ride 16 of the 19 races carded, while Irad has mounts in 15 races.

ELMONT, N.Y. – War Story, the winner of the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational on June 10 in his most recent start, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 5, co-owner Ron Paolucci said Wednesday.

Paolucci had initially said that War Story would run in the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes at Mountaineer on the same day.

Paolucci said in his discussions with trainer Jorge Navarro that War Story “is doing too good.”