La Verdad punched her ticket last weekend as one of the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, while Judy the Beauty and Taris will try to do the same this weekend in critical final preps for the seven-furlong race.

Trainer Linda Rice confirmed after La Verdad led throughout to win the Gallant Bloom last Saturday at Belmont Park that owner Sheila Rosenblum is inclined to supplement the New York-bred star for $100,000 to the Filly and Mare Sprint. The respective two-three finishers in the Gallant Bloom, Wavell Avenue and Dame Dorothy, also are prospective starters.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Big fields were entered Tuesday for the opening-day features of the Keeneland fall meet, the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades and Grade 3 Phoenix, back-to-back stakes that anchor a 10-race Friday card.

The $250,000 Phoenix drew a field of 12 and presents a fascinating matchup between horses drawn on opposite ends of the starting gate: Runhappy (post 1), entered off his blazing victory in the King’s Bishop Stakes, and Work All Week (post 12), the defending champion in the North American sprint division.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – It’s important when discussing racing seasons at a given track not to compare apples and oranges, and the 2015 Arlington meet was indeed different from its predecessors. Race weeks in May, June, and September were three days, shorter than ever before, and the 624 races run during the meet represented a drop of 210 from 2014.

Yet it’s still hard to look at one very raw number and, even accounting for apples to oranges, not feel like the sky is falling on Illinois racing: Gross handle on races at Arlington has dropped nearly 50 percent in just two years.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Another Gulfstream horse eyeing the Breeders’ Cup is Flutterby, following her victory over Grade 1-placed Kiss to Remember in Sunday’s Added Elegance Stakes. Flutterby missed out on an expenses-paid trip to the BC Filly and Mare Sprint this summer when finishing second in the Princess Rooney, a Win and You’re In qualifier. That loss was her only setback in her last four starts.

Owner-trainer-breeder Jerry Bozzo, who will turn 95 in October, said he would have to map out the logistics of making the trip before rendering a final decision.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sheer Drama, the leading Breeders’ Cup candidate on the Gulfstream Park grounds, continues to work forwardly for her role as one of the favorites in the BC Distaff, breezing five furlongs in 1:00.73 on Sunday, with her final half-mile in a dazzling 46.40 seconds. She galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.79.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Jess’s Dream, the first foal out of Rachel Alexandra who was dynamic in rallying from far back to win his debut at Saratoga, is sidelined for the remainder of the year, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said Jess’s Dream developed a problem in his right hind leg and is nearly halfway through a 60-day break at Stonestreet Farm in Lexington, Ky. McLaughlin said that in 30 days, Jess’s Dream will move to Stonestreet’s farm in Ocala, Fla., where he will stay for an undetermined period of time before moving back to McLaughlin at Palm Meadows in Florida.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Effinex has won a pair of graded stakes at 1 1/4 miles already this year, and he is ready for his try at the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, also at 1 1/4 miles, after breezing seven furlongs in 1:28.60 on Sunday over Belmont’s training track.

Effinex won the Grade 3 Excelsior at Aqueduct in April and the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont in June, both at 1 1/4 miles. In between, he was pulled up and eased in the Grade 2 Brooklyn, seemingly bothered by the bit he wore, which prompted him to bear out.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown finished one-two in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf with Dayatthespa and Stephanie’s Kitten. On Saturday, he will try to finalize his lineup for this year’s Filly and Mare Turf when he sends out four runners in the Grade 1, $500,000 Flower Bowl Stakes at Belmont Park.

Brown’s Flower Bowl roster comprises Stephanie’s Kitten, last year’s Flower Bowl winner; Watsdachances, elevated to first in the Grade 1 Beverly D.; Dacita, the winner of the Grade 2 Ballston Spa in her 2015 and U.S. debut; and Rosalind.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Clerk of scales Victor Sanchez said jockey Matthew Rispoli came into the jocks’ room Sunday morning voicing his desire to buy pizza for everyone to celebrate his three victories the previous afternoon.

“I told him where they made the best pizza in the area,” Sanchez said. “It’s about five miles away, and not only did he buy, he even went and picked them up himself.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Masochistic’s reputation has evolved since his career began in the spring of 2014.

Initially, he was at the center of a medication scandal when he tested for an overage of a common tranquilizer after his debut, a fifth-place finish at Santa Anita in March last year. Through 2014, he was considered a morning rogue, prone to running off during exercise. Still, he won three of his first five starts.