ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Jack Carava was reunited with an old friend last week when he claimed the popular 9-year-old gelding Royal F J, who debuted in August 2009 and has made 79 of his 89 career starts for Carava.

Royal F J was surprisingly claimed away from Carava in March for $20,000 and finished out of the money in his next eight races while being placed in much tougher spots. He was put in an $8,000 claimer here on Oct. 6, and Carava took him back. Royal F J finished fifth, his ninth straight finish out of the money.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert this week said Dortmund would run in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, but another major decision regarding that horse is pending. Baffert said Rafael Bejarano would not ride Dortmund in the Breeders’ Cup, but he had yet to decide who would replace him.

Bejarano rode Dortmund in his last two races, a third in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar and a second in the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita. Both races were won by California Chrome.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The fleet 2-year-old Straight Fire, third in the FrontRunner Stakes in his most recent start after finishing second in the Del Mar Futurity, has been given the rest of the year off, trainer Keith Desormeaux said Friday.

“He’s been sent to Kentucky to WinStar Farm for a little break,” Desormeaux said. “We’ll get him back around Dec. 1 and concentrate on a sprint campaign for him next year.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – One day it’s Beholder and Songbird, the next day Stellar Wind. So it goes these days at Santa Anita, as the three locally based Eclipse Award winners continue their preparations for what is shaping up as an epic showdown in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff here on Nov. 4.

Beholder and Songbird both had works Thursday. On Friday, on an inky morning with the darkness mixed with fog, Stellar Wind took to the track for a half-mile drill in 48.40 seconds under exercise rider Jose Contreras.

MIAMI – A 1-9 shot is generally expected to win by more than the 1 1/2-length margin that Basha held at the end of Thursday’s seven-furlong allowance feature at Gulfstream Park West. But for those who watched the race, it was about as impressive a 1 1/2-length victory as you’ll ever see.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A terrific field is shaping up for the Grade 2, $250,000 Raven Run, the richest of four graded stakes to be run next week at Keeneland.

Lucy N Ethel, unbeaten in four starts, will make her first start in the care of trainer Tom Amoss in Saturday’s 18th running of the seven-furlong Raven Run, which also is expected to get Bendable, Lewis Bay, Lightstream, and another six or seven 3-year-old fillies.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Paid Up Subscriber is being considered for a turnback in distance in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint after finishing second to I’m a Chatterbox in the 1 1/8-mile Spinster last Sunday at Keeneland.

Trainer Al Stall Jr. said “everything will have to be perfect with the horse” for Paid Up Subscriber to run Nov. 5 in the Filly and Mare Sprint, to be run at seven furlongs at Santa Anita.

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Jockey Roimes Chirinos, who was one of five riders who went down in a five-horse spill Tuesday at Zia Park in New Mexico, is scheduled to be released from the hospital on Friday, according to his agent, Stan Johnson.

All of the jockeys avoided major injuries. The other riders involved in the eighth-race spill were Ry Eikleberry, Miguel Fuentes Jr., Alfredo Sigala, and J.C. Villanueva.

Chirinos broke both of his shoulder blades and two ribs, said Johnson, who added that it doesn't look as if the jockey will need surgery.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Cherry Lodge, third in the Grade 1 Spinaway on Sept. 3, heads a field of five for Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Matron for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs.

Cherry Lodge will face Amapola, whom she beat by a length in a maiden race at Saratoga on Aug. 7. Amapola, despite three solid races, remains eligible for a maiden race.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Haveyougoneaway, a top contender for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, blazed five furlongs in 58.55 seconds over the Belmont Park main track Thursday.

With exercise rider Orlando Tapia in the irons, Haveyougoneaway went her first quarter in 24.85 seconds and got her final three furlongs in 33.70 under mild urging. She galloped out six furlongs in 1:11.31.

It was Haveyougoneaway’s third and most serious work since her victory in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga on Aug. 27.