CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome is midway between starts in late summer and early fall.

The 2014 Horse of the Year, California Chrome won the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 20 and will have his next start in the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 1. The main goal in the coming months is the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.

On Saturday at Los Alamitos, where trainer Art Sherman is based, California Chrome had a slick five-furlong workout in 1:00.80, finishing without urging from exercise rider Dihigi Gladney.

ELMONT, N.Y. – One week after his stablemate Shaman Ghost won the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga, Effinex gave a not-so-subtle reminder that trainer Jimmy Jerkens has two top-caliber horses in the older male division in his barn.

Effinex, a Grade 1 winner and two-time winner of the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap, blazed five furlongs in 59.32 seconds over the Belmont Park main track Saturday in preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup here on Oct. 8. That race is also the intended target for Shaman Ghost.

Classic Empire, the favorite in the Grade 1 Hopeful who veered out at the break and unseated jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., will be pointed to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland on Oct. 8, trainer Mark Casse said Friday.

Casse said that Classic Empire may have spotted the auxiliary starting gate that, for some reason, is parked alongside the outside fence on the main track.

Casse said Classic Empire went back to the track Tuesday and has been training in blinkers, equipment that he will wear for the first time in a race in the Futurity.

Tommy Macho, last year’s Discovery Handicap winner, worked four furlongs in 49.47 seconds Friday over Belmont’s main track. It was his fifth work since resuming training following surgery earlier this year to remove a knee chip.

Tommy Macho has not run since winning the Fred Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream on Feb. 6.

“He had a knee surgery after that. He’s come back and rehabbed well and trained well so far,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We have no specific plans for his next start, but he’s coming along well so far.”

Obviously, unraced since winning the Grade 3 Poker Stakes at Belmont Park in June, will start in the $200,000 City of Hope Mile on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 8.

Trainer Phil D’Amato said a plan of running in the Woodbine Mile in Toronto on Sept. 17 was unworkable because of travel difficulties from California. D’Amato said the Breeders’ Cup Mile on turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 5 is the main goal for the autumn.

“Hopefully, this will set us up for the Breeders’ Cup,” he said.

Beholder, the three-time champion who was second to California Chrome in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 20, worked five furlongs in 1:02.20 at Santa Anita on Friday.

The workout was the first for Beholder since trainer Richard Mandella moved his stable from Del Mar to Santa Anita earlier this week, and left the 6-year-old mare on schedule for the $300,000 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 1.

“It was very easy,” Mandella said. “She was by herself. Next week, we’ll tighten it up a little bit. We’ll do a serious work next time.”

CYPRESS, Calif. – Stewart Elliott’s first three-win day in California, and his first anywhere since April 2014 at Keeneland, occurred on Thursday’s quiet opening day of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos.

For Elliott, best known for winning the 2004 Kentucky Derby on Smarty Jones, the hat trick showed how he has adapted to Southern California racing after sitting out 2015. On Thursday, Elliott, 51, rode winners for trainers Mark Rheinford, Bob Baffert, and Mike Puype.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Four years after he nearly won the Travers and 21 months since he last competed, Fast Falcon returns to the races in a second-level allowance race Sunday at Belmont Park.

A 7-year-old son of Awesome Again owned by Richard Pell, Fast Falcon makes his first start since winning a first-level allowance on Dec. 31, 2014, at Gulfstream Park. Trained by Nick Zito then, he runs Sunday for Mark Casse.

Trainer Scooter Dickey said he will be looking for a suitable next race for Flatlined, who led throughout in posting a 12-1 upset Thursday in the $149,625 Old Friends Stakes at Kentucky Downs.

It was the first stakes victory for Dickey, 75, since he won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in October 2011 with a horse of a similar name: Flat Out.

Acapulco breezed an easy half-mile Friday in 51.80 seconds over a firm Keeneland turf course in preparation for her next likely start in either the Oct. 8 Woodford or the Oct. 14 Franklin County at the fall meet at the Lexington track.

Trainer Wesley Ward had intended to run Acapulco overseas this summer but withheld the 3-year-old filly from making the trip alongside stablemate Lady Aurelia. “I just needed a little more time with her,” he said.