LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If Classic Empire makes the July 30 Haskell at Monmouth Park, he will do so without a lot of training time to spare. Scratched from the June 10 Belmont Stakes with a foot abscess, his subsequent training has fallen behind schedule, trainer Mark Casse said Friday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Diversify, who won the Saginaw Stakes last Sunday by 2 3/4 lengths to improve his record to 5 for 8, could make his next start on turf, trainer Rick Violette said.

Violette doesn’t see a good dirt option at Saratoga for Diversify, and he did work him once on the grass course at Belmont, where he went five furlongs in 1:00.98.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Emancipation was beaten a half-length on Tuesday in his second start, trainer Shug McGaughey felt the race was even better than his debut win here last month. Emancipation, a full brother to 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb, finished third in his first try against winners but had a wide trip.

McGaughey said he plans to run Emancipation next at Saratoga.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Just 54 horses have been entered for Sunday’s nine-race program at Los Alamitos, including four races with five-horse fields.

Racing secretary Bob Moreno expressed concern before the meeting regarding field size, but there were reasonably large fields during the first three days of the meeting. There was an average of 7.6 runners per race on Thursday’s eight-race program, and 63 horses were entered for Friday’s eight-race program and 71 for Saturday’s nine-race program.

CYPRESS, Calif. – West Coast, the winner of the Easy Goer Stakes at Belmont Park on June 10, is part of a projected field of eight for the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby next Saturday, July 15.

The $200,000 Los Alamitos Derby is run at 1 1/8 miles on dirt and is one of the few graded stakes on dirt for 3-year-olds in California in the second half of the year. The Del Mar summer meeting includes the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile, but there are no graded stakes for 3-year-olds on dirt at the Del Mar or Santa Anita fall meetings.

Former rider Abel Castellano Jr.’s three-win debut as a trainer at Delaware Park on Thursday seemingly came from out of the blue, but in reality, a lot of planning went into the victories.

Castellano has 15 horses stabled at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. He ran eight of them Thursday, six at Delaware and two at Finger Lakes. He won a first-level allowance race, a $25,000 claiming race, and a $12,500 claiming race.

“It was a great day,” Castellano said. “I pointed my horses to these races for a long time.”

CYPRESS, Calif. – Jockey Fernando Perez, who has been sidelined since December because of a concussion and bleeding on the brain, is hoping to make a comeback before the end of the year.

In a phone interview this week, Perez said he is seeking approval from doctors to return to riding.

“I’m feeling good, thank the Lord,” Perez said. “I’m relaxing a little bit. I’m waiting for the doctor to give me the release to come back.

“I’m hoping I can go back as soon as I can.”

Jockey Julian Pimentel was badly injured in a Saturday training accident at Laurel Park and will be sidelined until fall.

Pimentel, 36, was exercising a horse who fell and then landed on top of him, according to his agent, Ronny Gerardo. Pimentel has a fractured T-12 vertebra in his back and also tore the meniscus in his left knee and fractured his knee cap. Pimentel is currently fitted with a back brace and a knee brace.

Gerardo said Pimentel was unconscious after the accident.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The four Grade 3 stakes on Million Preview Day on Saturday at Arlington were drawn Wednesday, and there are very good horses in at least three of them.

The Arlington Handicap, a prep for the Arlington Million, drew nine entrants, including the 2016 winner, Kasaqui. Kasaqui went on to finish second in the Million last year, and his connections, trainer Ignacio Correas and owner Diane Perkins, have eyed the 2017 Million since Kasaqui began his 7-year-old campaign in February at Tampa Bay Downs.

Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico will run trial races Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as some of the most talented Quarter Horses in training attempt to qualify for either the Grade 1, $1 million Rainbow Futurity or the Grade 1, $1.2 million Rainbow Derby.

There will be 24 trials for the Rainbow Futurity, with 12 on Friday and 12 on Saturday. The horses with the five fastest times from each card will advance to the 400-yard finale on July 23. There will be 11 trials for the Rainbow Derby on Sunday. Horses with the 10 fastest times will earn a spot in the gate for the finale July 22.