SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher will be represented in Saturday’s Grade 1 Spinaway by Cherry Lodge and Sweet Loretta, who are part of a seven-horse field entered for the seven-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies.

Though John Velazquez rode Sweet Loretta to a 4 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Schuylerville here on opening day, he will ride Cherry Lodge from post 5 in the $350,000 Spinaway. Velazquez rode Cherry Lodge to a one-length victory in an Aug. 7 maiden race. Javier Castellano will ride Sweet Loretta from the rail in the Spinaway.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Frosted will have eight challengers when he seeks his third straight Grade 1 victory in Saturday’s $600,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga, and his biggest threat may come from his own barn.

Mubtaahij, who joined trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s barn following his second-place finish in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March, was among the horses entered against Frosted in the 1 1/8-mile Woodward.

The Woodward is one of four stakes on a 12-race Saturday card at Saratoga that includes the Grade 1 Spinaway, Grade 3 Saranac, and Grade 3 Glens Falls.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Miss Southern Miss, who starts in Saturday’s $300,000 Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies, has been a puzzle for trainer Keith Desormeaux.

She beat maidens in her debut at Santa Anita in June and was second in the Landaluce Stakes there in July and in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 6.

Desormeaux has expected better performances and is hoping the seven-furlong distance of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante will lead to a breakthrough stakes win for Miss Southern Miss.

DEL MAR, Calif. – On Wednesday at Del Mar, Songbird had her first workout since winning the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 20. Songbird worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds and was ready for action, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said.

“When she has a few days off after her races, she wants to go,” Hollendorfer said. “Not overwhelmingly so, but she wants to train.

“She does things easily and galloped out the last quarter in 23.99 seconds. If I were a clocker, I’d give her breezing.”

Parx Racing in suburban Philadelphia, which reopens Saturday following a 3 1/2-week hiatus, will run six of its seven graded stakes over the next three weeks and then hold its second Festival of Racing.

“We have a big two months ahead of us,” said Sam Elliott, the track’s director of racing.

There isn’t so much as one allowance on an eight-race Friday card at Ellis Park, where the 30-day summer meet is quietly winding down. The western Kentucky track will go dark Saturday to avoid a conflict with Kentucky Downs, and then the meet closes with Sunday and Monday cards.

Closing day will feature the last of five stakes, the $50,000 Cliff Guilliams Memorial for older horses at 1 1/16 miles on turf. First post daily is 12:50 p.m. Central.

It was taking a whole lot of time Wednesday morning for some trainers to enter all the horses they hoped to run Saturday on the 10-race opening-day card at Kentucky Downs.

Some trainers were entering more for one day than they sometimes run in a week. Clearly, the absurdly rich five-day meet at Kentucky Downs has become a primary focus for horsemen in Kentucky and beyond.

Ben Colebrook told Kentucky Downs publicity he intended to enter a combined 10 horses in seven of the opening-day races, and Joe Sharp said he had about seven to enter.

Julien Leparoux is set to return to the saddle on the second day of the Kentucky Downs meet, Sept. 8, after being cleared this week to begin exercising horses. The 33-year-old jockey fractured his wrist when he was thrown from a mount following an Aug. 6 race at Saratoga.

Leparoux tied for leading rider at the 2014 Kentucky Downs meet with the since-retired Rosie Napravnik. Last year, his fellow Frenchman Florent Geroux dominated the jockey standings with 12 wins. Geroux is scheduled to ride all five Kentucky Downs dates this year. The meet begins Saturday.

DEL MAR, Calif. – John Sadler has been spending his summers at Del Mar for more than 30 years now, enough time to win three training titles and rank sixth all time in stakes wins, yet he might very well look back at this meet as his most satisfying ever, and it’s not done yet.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Bob Baffert continued his strong run in 2-year-old maiden races last weekend when the colt Cairo Healer and the filly Life’s Blessings both won their debuts. He has high hopes for both.

Cairo Healer, named by owner Ahmed Zayat for his father – who recently died – fled the rail when winning on Sunday.

“He’s really improved,” Baffert said of the son of Giant’s Causeway. “He’s the most-improved horse in the barn. He was a little nut case.