Sam Houston Race Park will run its richest race, the Grade 3, $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic, on Sunday, Jan. 29. The race, previously a Saturday night feature, will again share a card with the Grade 3 John Connally Turf Cup, which has been boosted in value by $50,000 to $250,000. Post for the card will be noon Central.

The changes are the most significant to Sam Houston’s stakes schedule, which was released Tuesday. The package of 20 stakes will be worth nearly $2 million. Sam Houston opens its 32-date meet Jan. 20.

Madam Dancealot, a Group 3 winner at Salisbury Racecourse in England on Sept. 1, was purchased for approximately $291,000 at the Goffs Champion Sale in Ireland last weekend and will join trainer Richard Baltas’s stable in California later this month.

Madam Dancealot will be pointed for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 4, according to David Meah, an assistant to Baltas who helped to organize the purchase.

Melatonin, a winner of two Grade 1 races in the first half of the year, may run out of time to prepare for the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 1, trainer David Hofmans said.

Hofmans said he may start Melatonin in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 5 after a series of workouts in the coming weeks.

“I don’t know if we’ll make the Awesome Again,” he said. “The other option is to go in off works.”

The undefeated champion Songbird breezed five furlongs in 58.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Monday, a workout trainer Jerry Hollendorfer described as her most important exercise in the buildup to the $1 million Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing on Sept. 24.

Hollendorfer did not attend the workout. He was in Kentucky for the Keeneland September yearling sale and was in contact with stable staff in California through the morning.

“We had a nice workout,” Hollendorfer said. “That’s our major work before going to Philadelphia.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Breaking Lucky returned to Woodbine last week after his close fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 3 and will be pointed toward the Grade 3, $150,000 Durham Cup over 1 1/8 miles on Tapeta here on Sept. 24, trainer Reade Baker said.

“If everything’s 100 percent, we’ll run him here in the Durham,” he said.

Baker said Breaking Lucky returned to Woodbine in good order after earning a career-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure in the Woodward, but the short turnaround is a concern.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield looks to have a busy weekend ahead for his stable, as he’ll be represented in at least three of the five graded turf stakes here.

Along with Tower of Texas in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile, Attfield will send out Danish Dynaformer and potentially Goodyearforroses in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes. Danish Dynaformer will enter off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Arlington Million over 1 1/4 miles at Arlington Park on Aug. 13.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile headlines a terrific weekend of turf racing, with five graded stakes on the grass and four fees-paid berths to the Breeders’ Cup up for grabs.

The probable field for the Woodbine Mile includes 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Tepin, who would be making her first start since she captured the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting in June.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There’s no rest for the weary on the Kentucky circuit these days. Aside from the time-consuming sales grind that many horsemen are going through, an 11-day race meet starts Friday at Churchill Downs less than 24 hours after Kentucky Downs ends Thursday.

The first big day of the Churchill meet comes Saturday, with four stakes, including a pair of 2-year-old races, the Pocahontas and Iroquois. Both 1 1/16-mile races are Win and You’re In events toward the Nov. 4-5 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Good weather led to good business for the opening weekend of Belmont Park’s fall meet.

All-sources handle for opening weekend, last Friday through Sunday, was $27,016,418, a 14.2 percent increase over last year’s figure of $23,661,082 for the first three days. Ontrack handle was $3,479,090, an 8.6 percent increase over last year’s figure of $3,201,596.

This year, all 15 scheduled turf races were run on the turf, whereas last year, nine of the first 15 scheduled turf races had to be moved to the dirt due to inclement weather.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Governor Malibu, a New York-bred 3-year-old, was nominated to the Pennsylvania Derby but may be pointed to an easier spot, trainer Christophe Clement said Sunday.

In his last three starts, Governor Malibu finished fourth in the Belmont Stakes, second in the Jim Dandy, and fifth in the Travers. He is still eligible for a first-level open or second-level New York-bred allowance condition. Then there is the $300,000 Empire Classic for New York-breds on Oct. 22.