LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was a rough weekend at Churchill Downs for Wayne Catalano, and not just because his stable star, Farrell, finished last of 14 in the Kentucky Oaks.

Earlier in the week, Catalano lost his older brother. Joe Catalano, a longtime stable employee who was living in their native New Orleans, suffered an apparent heart attack and died at 63.

“We’re having a memorial Mass for him back home” on May 16, Wayne Catalano said early Monday. “Everybody liked Joe Cat. He’s really going to be missed.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Even with all the success he has enjoyed in recent years, this past Kentucky Derby weekend is one that trainer Brad Cox will never forget.

Cox won a combined four races on the Oaks and Derby cards, including three stakes: the Grade 2 Eight Belles with Benner Island, the Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint with Green Mask, and the Grade 2 American Turf with Arklow.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dallas Stewart did it again. The 57-year-old trainer with a knack for blowing up the Churchill Downs tote board on Kentucky Derby weekend sent out three winners last week, furthering his reputation as a producer of live longshots.

Darion’s Dream ($26.20) won her career debut in a maiden-claiming race Thursday, and then Northwest Bourbon ($29.40) and Shes a True Beauty ($15.20) won on the Oaks undercard.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Divisidero and Beach Patrol, the one-two finishers in the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Saturday at Churchill Downs, could be rematched five weeks hence in the Grade 1, $1 million Manhattan on the June 10 Belmont Stakes undercard.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It was not long after Abel Tasman won the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs last Friday that trainer Simon Callaghan’s cellphone began to jingle with text messages.

“They were all very supportive,” Callaghan recalled on Sunday.

The messages came from friends reaching out to Callaghan, the original trainer of Abel Tasman. The filly was transferred to trainer Bob Baffert in early March after a dispute arose regarding the silks that jockey Joe Talamo wore for Abel Tasman’s 2017 debut in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes at Santa Anita on March 4.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Union Strike, a close second in the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes at Churchill Downs last Friday, will be pointed for the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park on June 10.

The $700,000 Acorn Stakes is run at a mile around one turn and is for 3-year-old fillies.

“I think the one turn, with the big turns, will be perfect for her,” owner and trainer Mick Ruis said on Sunday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – For five months, Vale Dori has essentially had the California older-female division to herself, reeling of five consecutive graded stakes wins.

She is about to get company in the division – world-class company.

Vale Dori won the Grade 3 Adoration Stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday, a prep for the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on June 3, the top race for females of the spring-summer meeting. The $400,000 Beholder Mile is shaping up as the nation’s top race for fillies and mares of the first half of the year.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Arrogate has had a quiet start to May, a peaceful period that is nearing an end.

The champion 3-year-old male of 2016, Arrogate has been perfect in two starts this year, winning the $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28 and the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on March 25. He is the first horse to win consecutive eight-figure races.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The unbeaten filly Sircat Sally is likely to follow a pattern of graded stakes on turf for 3-year-old fillies in Southern California in coming months.

Saturday, Sircat Sally won her sixth race in the Grade 3 Senorita Stakes at a mile on turf. The victory is likely to lead to a start in the Grade 2 Honeymoon Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf on June 17. Another option is the $200,000 Melair Stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles on May 29.

ARCADIA, Calif. - To reach the winner’s circle of Saturday’s $81,725 Singletary Stakes at Santa Anita, Bowies Hero dragged his nose through the turf at the start and rallied past most of his nine rivals in the one-mile turf race.

The style of the win in Bowies Hero’s first start of the year has left trainer Phil D’Amato eager for the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 3, even if the $250,000 turf race is nearly four months off.

“The ultimate goal is the Del Mar Derby,” D’Amato said on Sunday. “I think 1 1/8 miles will fit him.”