ELMONT, N.Y. – Epicharis, the Japanese-based runner who will contest the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes on June 10, entered quarantine in Japan on Thursday at the Miho Training Center. He must be isolated for one week before shipping to New York on June 1.

Prior to entering quarantine, Epicharis breezed five furlongs in 1:05.20 over an uphill wood-chip course on Wednesday, according to trainer Kiyoshi Hagiwara. He was timed in fractions of 12.60 seconds for an eighth, 36.80 for three furlongs, and 50.70 for a half-mile.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Linda Rice, like most observers, has marveled at the exploits of New York turf stalwarts King Kreesa, Lubash, and Kharafa, who have combined to race 129 times, win 41 races, and earn $3.9 million.

On Monday, Rice will be smack dab in the middle of this three-pronged rivalry as the new trainer of King Kreesa, who will make his 8-year-old debut in the $125,000 Kingston, one of six stakes restricted to New York-breds on New York Showcase Day.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The California-based Songbird will launch her 2017 campaign at Belmont Park on June 10 in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Thursday.

Songbird, a two-time champion whose only loss was a nose defeat to Beholder in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, is nominated to the Grade 1, $400,000 Beholder Mile on June 3 at Santa Anita. Hollendorfer and owner Rick Porter will skip the local race and go for the New York money one week later in the $750,000 Phipps.

Early this week, there was trouble back home at Jim Gulick’s 26-acre farm in Morriston, Fla.

“We’ve got some donkeys that are supposed to keep the place safe and secure, but they let their guard down,” Gulick said. “We have a fox. He came in broad daylight and got four of the chickens yesterday.”

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Two Augusts ago, Marquee Miss made her career debut in the $75,000 Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes. It was a bold move, starting a filly off in a stakes race, but it paid off, as Marquee Miss won by three lengths, earning black type in her first trip to the post.

The better part of two years later, and Marquee Miss is set to run over Arlington’s Polytrack surface for the second time. The filly, trained by Ingrid Mason for Rags Racing Stable LLC, is one of seven entrants in Friday’s third race, a six-furlong allowance for fillies and mares.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The $75,000 Christmas Past, scheduled to be run Saturday at 1 1/16 miles on turf, lured a well-matched group, including the stakes-placed Catsadiva, graded-stakes-placed Dad’s Princess, and stakes winner Susie Bee.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Gerald Bennett hasn’t stabled regularly at Gulfstream Park in more than two decades. But with many Florida-breds in his stable, and fresh off a second consecutive Tampa Bay Downs training title, the 73-year-old horseman has moved in for the summer with a full contingent. He expects to reach 40 horses by the time all his 2-year-olds are ready to ship from the farm.

Cliff Berry has turned into a beach bum.

Well, not really, although the all-time winningest rider at both Lone Star Park and Remington Park has spent a fair amount of his retirement time hanging out at the ocean.

“We’ve got a motor home, and we take little vacations here and there,” Berry said of his travels with wife Kim. “We like going to the beach.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – It was not by design that Big Handsome has developed into a turf sprinter. But after three failed attempts on dirt, trainer Tony Dutrow decided to try something different with the 3-year-old son of Street Boss, and now Big Handsome likely will be favored in Saturday’s $100,000 Paradise Creek Stakes, scheduled for seven furlongs over Belmont’s Widener turf course.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Miss Temple City will make her third consecutive trip to Royal Ascot next month, but the race she will run in has yet to be determined, trainer Graham Motion said Wednesday.

Miss Temple City is nominated to both the Group 1 Queen Anne, where she would take on males, on June 20 and the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge, for fillies and mares, on June 21. Miss Temple City finished fourth in the Duke of Cambridge last year. In 2015, Miss Temple City finished fourth in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes.