ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Mor Spirit turned in one of the more impressive performances of Belmont Stakes weekend in winning Saturday’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap by 6 1/4 lengths, that didn’t make trainer Chad Summers feel any better about skipping the race with Mind Your Biscuits.

“It made me want to run even more,” Summers said, noting that Mind Your Biscuits finished ahead of Mor Spirit in the Grade 1 Malibu last December. “We have so much faith and confidence in our horse and what he’s able to do.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – McCraken will return to racing Saturday night at Churchill Downs, six weeks after running in the Kentucky Derby. It’s the same blueprint used last year by Gun Runner – and look how that turned out.

Indeed, overlapping story lines and a certain amount of serendipity will be in play with the Downs After Dark card that begins the so-called second half of the North American racing season Saturday night. None of it is by design.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse saddled Plate Trial runner-up King and His Court and third-place finisher State of Honor and said following the race that both horses likely will run in the Queen’s Plate on July 2.

Casse said King and His Court didn’t show his usual late kick along the rail in the Plate Trial.

“He looked like he was kind of lumbering today,” he said. “Some days he comes with a big kick; today, he was lumbering.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Guy Caballero sprung an upset in the $125,000 Plate Trial at Woodbine on Sunday, giving trainer Catherine Day Phillips two prospects for the Queen’s Plate in three weeks.

Guy Caballero sat last in the six-horse field early under jockey Rafael Hernandez behind pacesetter State of Honor but rallied down the lane to get up by a neck over King and His Court.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The lightly raced Holy Helena surged past Mythical Mission in the final sixteenth to take the $501,600 Woodbine Oaks for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies under jockey Luis Contreras at Woodbine on Sunday. The filly gave trainer Jimmy Jerkens his first Woodbine Oaks victory and owner Stronach Stables its third.

“It’s quite a while since I won the Oaks,” Frank Stronach said following the race. “The Oaks is a special race, and I’m very happy about it.”

ELMONT, N.Y. - The five California-based horses who shipped cross-country and captured many of Belmont Park’s biggest prizes Saturday left town early Sunday morning, but many - if not all - are expected back in this part of the country later this summer.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher got his third Belmont Stakes win Saturday with Tapwrit, while Graham Motion was denied his first with Irish War Cry, who was overhauled in deep stretch by Tapwrit and had to settle for second. Both trainers, among the more thoughtful in the sport, tried on Sunday morning to put the emotions of the day, and the past five weeks, into perspective, because for both, there were moments of satisfaction, and of disappointment.

ELMONT, N.Y. – There was a morning in late March at the Palm Beach Downs training center in south Florida when Jose Ortiz worked Tapwrit in preparation for the Blue Grass Stakes. His enthusiasm level was high.

“This might be my Derby horse,” Ortiz said at the time.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association in 2018 will again offer a $1 million bonus to any Japanese-based horse who wins the Belmont Stakes.

The NYRA offered a $1 million bonus this year and attracted Epicharis to enter the race. Epicharis, as of Friday, was still expected to start in Saturday’s $1.5 million Belmont despite a foot issue that has prevented him from training the last two days.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association in 2018 will again offer a $1 million bonus to any Japanese-based horse who wins the Belmont Stakes.

The NYRA offered a $1 million bonus this year and attracted Epicharis to enter the race. Epicharis, as of Friday, was still expected to start in Saturday’s $1.5 million Belmont despite a foot issue that has prevented him from training the last two days.