DEL MAR, Calif. – Kafister has a way to go before catching trainer David Bernstein’s best claim, but with his 12th victory Wednesday at Del Mar, Kafister earned a right to try joining Grade 1 winner Unfurl the Flag as former claiming horses Bernstein turned into stakes winners.

Kafister earned a career-high 95 Beyer Speed Figure in winning an optional-claiming sprint at Del Mar on Wednesday in 1:14.73 for 6 1/2 furlongs. He also earned a berth in the $75,000 Pirate’s Bounty Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong restricted stakes on Sept. 5, closing day of the summer meet.

The $1 million Florida Derby and the inaugural running of the $12 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational will highlight a record stakes schedule for the 2016-17 Gulfstream Park championship session, which opens Dec. 3.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Real-estate developer Peter Redekop has led a varied and colorful life in several countries. Redekop has been among the most successful horse owners in the Pacific Northwest for decades, but he has yet to reach one of his goals – win the Longacres Mile.

Redekop has a good chance to fill that hole on his résumé with Alert Bay in Sunday’s running of the Grade 3, $200,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Graded stakes winner Recepta continues to recover at the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital’s clinic in Saratoga Springs after suffering a career-ending pelvic fracture while galloping a week ago.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Stakes-placed Gettysburg will make his first start since attending the pace in the Belmont Stakes in an $85,000 allowance for 3-year-olds and up Friday at Saratoga.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Rain fell here Wednesday, and there was more expected Friday and maybe Saturday.

That was all trainer Chad Brown needed to keep Takeover Target in New York for Saturday’s $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap rather than shipping him to Chicago for Saturday’s Grade 1 Arlington Million.

Takeover Target was one of 10 horses entered in the Fourstardave, a one-mile turf race that was elevated to Grade 1 status for the first time this year.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When Libby’s Tail dropped back to last and fanned five wide approaching the quarter pole in her career debut at Belmont Park on July 2, her cause appeared hopeless – even to her trainer, Rudy Rodriguez.

“I didn’t think she had a chance to win that race when she was last nearing the stretch like that,” said Rodriguez. “But then she got outside, ran huge, and put them all away.”

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Mark Casse swears he doesn’t know how many horses he trains.

“Three people have asked me this week how many horses we have, and at any given moment, I honestly don’t know,” Casse said. “I don’t ever count. I think it’s bad luck.”

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Clondaw Warrior is 9. That is a ripe old age for a racehorse, and yet he comes into the $300,000 American St. Leger on Saturday having just won the biggest prize of his career, first place over 20 rivals in the $331,800 Galway Handicap Hurdle in Ireland. The race was July 28, meaning Clondaw Warrior runs on about two weeks’ rest with a ship from Ireland to Chicago in between.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Owner Ken Ramsey doesn’t ever want to see a repeat of the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, where Dayatthespa set such a slow pace that Ramsey’s Stephanie’s Kitten, closing from the rear of the field, was unable to run her down.

“Dayatthespa, she didn’t run a mile and a quarter – she galloped a mile and ran a quarter-mile,” Ramsey said by phone this week. “From my standpoint, I should’ve had a rabbit in there.”