HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There won’t be many horses lining up alongside Three Rules for Saturday’s $500,000 In Reality Stakes at Gulfstream. But one 2-year-old expected to be there for the finale of the Florida Sire Stakes series will be Illmatic, who is short on experience but long on potential, according to trainer Ralph Nicks.

Illmatic, a son of Kantharos, will enter the 1 1/16-mile In Reality as a maiden, having finished second in his only start, which came going seven furlongs here Sept. 11.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Texas Chrome and Sticksstatelydude were headed in different directions on Monday, the morning after they finished first and second in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.

Texas Chrome won his seventh stakes race in the Oklahoma Derby on Sunday, and trainer J.R. Caldwell said he could land next in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. Sticksstatelydude has a tentative goal of the Grade 3 Discovery at Aqueduct, said trainer Greg Burchell.

Anchored by the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, Aqueduct will host 29 stakes – 11 of which are graded – worth $4.85 million during the fall meet, which begins Nov. 4.

The Cigar Mile, scheduled for Nov. 26, has a base purse of $500,000, but Grade 1 winners will run for the winner’s share of a $750,000 purse, and winners of a Breeders’ Cup race would run for the winner’s share of $1 million. These purse bonuses were first put into place in 2013.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Wonder Gal returned from a seven-month layoff Sept. 2 with the best performance of her career, winning a New York-bred allowance race by 11 1/2 lengths at Saratoga. On Saturday, she is scheduled to return to open company in the Grade 2, $300,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont Park with an eye toward the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

ELMONT, N.Y. – After a planned summer freshening, Joking will return to the races in Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Vosburgh Stakes at Belmont Park.

The 7-year-old gelding is 3 for 4 this year, with a neck victory in the Grade 2 True North in June. He was entered in the Belmont Sprint Championship on July 9 but scratched due to an injured splint bone.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Forever Unbridled, the Apple Blossom Handicap winner, was scheduled on Monday to ship from Kentucky to Belmont for Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Beldame Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles around one turn.

Trainer Dallas Stewart was considering the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 9 for Forever Unbridled, in part because that race is run around two turns, but he ultimately decided on the Beldame because of the timing.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Flintshire will not have any pace help when he seeks his fourth consecutive victory of the year in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park.

Flintshire won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga by 1 3/4 lengths on Aug. 27. But there was some controversy in the race when Inordinate, who was entered as a pacemaker, or rabbit, for Flintshire, came off the inside at the top of the stretch. That created an opening along the rail for Flintshire while forcing jockey Florent Geroux on Roman Approval to steady.

Songbird, who remained unbeaten with an authoritative victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion at Parx on Saturday, was scheduled to be flown back to Southern California on Wednesday to begin preparing for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.

Songbird ran her record to 11 for 11 with a 5 3/4-length victory over Carina Mia in the Cotillion. The race looked like a walk in the park for last year’s champion 2-year-old filly, and according to her connections, it was just that.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In the end, the logistics involved in sending Da Big Hoss to Australia for the Nov. 1 Melbourne Cup proved too difficult, but “it sure was exciting” even thinking about participating in one of the world’s most celebrated horse races, said Harvey Diamond, a managing partner in Skychai Racing LLC, the Louisville-based group that owns Da Big Hoss.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The heavy lifting is over for Runhappy after he was sent through his final breeze Sunday at Keeneland in preparation for his eagerly awaited return to racing Saturday at Churchill Downs.