Joes Blazing Aaron is a candidate for the $75,000 Mr. Steele on Sept. 27 at Gulfstream Park, said trainer Peter Walder. Joes Blazing Aaron won at the race’s one-mile turf distance in 1:33.67 on June 18 when taking an optional $62,500 claimer over the local course. Earlier in his career, Joes Blazing Aaron won the Grade 3 Palm Beach on turf at Gulfstream.

Walder said Maid On a Mission is being pointed for the $75,000 Panama City on Sept. 26 at Gulfstream, while stakes winner Come to Mischief could run next in the Grade 3, $150,000 Jessamine on Oct. 7 at Keeneland.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The rising jockey Florent Geroux has put together an excellent summer, and only a portion of it has come at his home base, Arlington. Geroux is the fifth-leading rider at the ongoing meet, his 44 wins through the Sept. 13 card 30 fewer than leading jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. But Geroux, thanks to this Arlington Million win on The Pizza Man, tops the jockey earnings list at the meet with $1.4 million, and he’s spent as many weekends during the long Arlington season riding out of town as he has at home.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The 2-year-old colt Cocked and Loaded won his career debut in April at Keeneland and his second start in the Tremont Stakes at Belmont Park in June, and after a sixth in the Sanford Stakes in July at Saratoga and a sixth as the 6-5 favorite in the Arlington-Washington Futurity in August, it was starting to look like Cocked and Loaded’s greatest asset had been his precocity.

Highly conspicuous by his presence on the list of 32 nominees to the Sept. 26 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs is Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, although trainer Bob Baffert has given no indication that the superstar colt will actually start. According to the race conditions, the 1 1/8-mile Lukas Classic (known for its first two runnings as the Homecoming Classic) will be worth $175,000 without American Pharoah and $1 million with him.

Runhappy tunes up for Phoenix

When Chicago-based trainer Chris Block sent out Sweet Luca to a 13-1 upset Monday in the Kentucky Downs Turf Dash, it kept his record perfect in this unusual respect: All five of his Kentucky Downs stakes winners have been Illinois-breds ineligible for the rich Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund bonuses.

Block’s prior winners were Fort Prado, 2009 Turf Dash; Never Retreat, 2010 Ladies Turf; Ioya Bigtime, 2012 Kentucky Cup Turf; and Suntracer, 2014 Kentucky Turf Cup.

The Pennsylvania Derby didn’t get its big horse, American Pharoah, but in recent years that has been the exception rather than the rule. The same holds true for the Grade 1 Cotillion.

Last year, California Chrome made his first start following the Belmont Stakes in the Pennsylvania Derby. He finished sixth behind the front-running Bayern, the eventual Breeders’ Cup Classic winner. At year’s end, California Chrome was voted Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With their final prep races for the Breeders’ Cup two weeks away, Midwest Thoroughbred stars Work All Week and The Pizza Man are scheduled for serious workouts at Churchill Downs this weekend.

Trainer Roger Brueggemann said reigning champion sprinter Work All Week will work Friday, while The Pizza Man, the winner of the Arlington Million in his last start, will work Saturday.

“They’ll breeze one more time before they run, but these will be the quicker works,” said Brueggemann.

Frosted and Upstart will compete in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Saturday just three weeks after racing in the Travers, a demanding 1 1/4-mile race if there ever was one.

The quick turnaround cost Sam Elliott, the director of racing at Parx, the horse he had been courting for three months, American Pharoah. Although owner Ahmed Zayat and trainer Bob Baffert would have each received at least a $200,000 participation bonus on top of any purse money earned, another cross-country commute just was not in the cards after his second-place finish to Keen Ice.

One last batch of inflated purses will be up for grabs Saturday at Kentucky Downs, where a five-day meet ends with four stakes on a 13-race card at the turf-only track in south-central Kentucky.

The stakes are worth a potential total of $950,000, including bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, while three allowances (purse minimum, $125,000) and three $120,000 maiden special weight races also are on a program that starts at 12:05 p.m. Central, 90 minutes earlier than customary.

Untapable, the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner and champion 3-year-old filly, will prep for the 2015 Distaff by running in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes on Oct. 4 at Keeneland.

Trainer Steve Asmussen confirmed Tuesday that Untapable will prep for the Distaff by racing for the first time at Keeneland, where the Breeders’ Cup will be held for the first time on Oct. 30-31. Untapable is based at Churchill Downs. She worked five furlongs Monday morning in 1:02.