LEXINGTON, Ky. – A day like Saturday at Keeneland isn’t the kind you’ll ever forget – even if you’re a trainer as accomplished as Neil Howard.

Before a near-record crowd of 38,863 on a perfect spring afternoon, Howard won the Saturday opener with Kentucky Oaks prospect Dream Dance, then won the Grade 3 Ben Ali some three hours later with a surging 4-year-old named Eagle.

“It’s cliché, but you really are always happy to win, especially on a big day like that at Keeneland,” Howard said Monday back at his Churchill Downs base.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For all the impressive stakes performances here over the weekend, led by Miss Temple City in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile and Tepin in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley, there also were some notable efforts in the allowance ranks.

In fact, the May 21 Preakness got a prospective starter when Stradivari earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in winning a first-level, 1 1/8-mile allowance by 14 1/2 lengths Sunday under John Velazquez. Trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed Monday that he will consider the Preakness or the May 14 Peter Pan Stakes for the 3-year-old Medaglia d’Oro colt.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As the final days leading up to the Kentucky Derby began to tick down, trainer Steve Asmussen said that next week will be the time to tighten the screws on his Louisiana Derby winner Gun Runner.

On Monday, Gun Runner worked an easy five furlongs in 1:00, earning the day’s bullet move for the distance at Churchill Downs. Gun Runner, with Florent Geroux aboard, broke off about a length behind workmate Gold Hawk and ticked off splits of 12.80 seconds, 24.40, 36.40, and 48. He hit the wire two lengths in front and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.20.

The Grade 2 Charles Town Classic on Saturday has long been the spring goal for Page McKenney. But his path to the $1.25 million race has changed several times, and he comes into the 1 1/8-mile Classic off a seven-furlong sprint and a 10-week break.

Now 6, Page McKenney has won five of his last six races for owner Adam Staple and trainer Mary Eppler. He was beaten a nose after stumbling at the start of his lone loss during that stretch.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With the stunning Sunday announcement that Songbird will not run in the Kentucky Oaks, the May 6 filly classic at Churchill Downs now takes on a dramatically different look.

Indiana Grand Racing & Casino in Shelbyville opens a 120-day meet Tuesday looking stronger and stronger among second-tier Midwestern racetracks.

With Illinois racing still reeling and Prairie Meadows in Iowa just trying to hold the status quo, the niche Indiana Grand has carved since harness racing moved exclusively to Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand became the state’s sole Thoroughbred track in 2013 has only grown wider in the regional marketplace.

CYPRESS, Calif. - At 6, Boozer may be on the verge of a career change.

Saturday at Los Alamitos, Boozer won the third stakes of his career in the $100,345 Bertrando Stakes for California-breds, his stakes debut on dirt. The win left trainer Mark Glatt contemplating other stakes on dirt in coming weeks, such as the $150,000 Tiznow Stakes for California-breds at a mile at Santa Anita on May 28.

“It adds another dimension,” Glatt said of the win. “It gives us other options.”

CYPRESS, Calif.- Jockey Edwin Maldonado won two stakes for the first time in his career at Los Alamitos on Saturday. The milestone nearly didn’t happen because of California’s rules regarding jockeys who ride stakes during routine suspensions.

On April 10, Santa Anita stewards suspended Maldonado for Saturday’s program at Los Alamitos because he rode two graded stakes at Keeneland on April 9 while serving a suspension for a routine riding infraction.

ARCADIA, Calif.-  The recent death of a War Front colt out of Zenyatta, the 2010 Horse of the Year, has left the popular mare with two surviving foals – the active racehorses Cozmic One and Ziconic.

Trainer John Shirreffs said over the weekend that he is hopeful both can start in maiden races at Santa Anita in May for owners and breeders Jerry and Ann Moss, who campaigned the immensely popular Zenyatta.

CYPRESS, Calif. - Jockey Fernando Perez will resume riding at Los Alamitos on Thursday, 11 days after he was unseated from his mount following a race at Santa Anita on April 10.

Perez was unseated from Cardiac after the San Juan Capistrano Stakes while galloping the 4-year-old back to be unsaddled. Perez initially had X-rays taken on a knee on the evening of the race, and later experienced dizziness that led one doctor to conclude the rider may have sustained a concussion in the fall.