SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Curalina, elevated to first in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks here July 26, worked four furlongs in 48.65 seconds over the Saratoga main track in company with Tango Time as she prepares for this coming Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes.

Curalina came home in 23.80 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.29 and six furlongs in 1:14.90.

Curalina is 4 for 4 this year and has won at distances ranging from seven furlongs to 1 1/8 miles. The Alabama is 1 1/4 miles, and trainer Todd Pletcher believes Curalina is tailor-made for it.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While the potential star of the Grade 1 Travers was scheduled to audition on Sunday in California, several members of the Mid-Summer Derby’s supporting cast were in rehearsal mode Saturday morning at Saratoga.

Texas Red, Upstart, Keen Ice, and Madefromlucky all put in workouts Saturday designed to get them to the Travers on Aug. 29, when they may or may not be facing Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

Curlin’s Fox, the winner of Friday’s 87,400 Sandy Blue Handicap for 3-year-old fillies on turf, will be pointed for the $100,000 Autumn Miss Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 17, trainer Carla Gaines said on Saturday.

Curlin’s Fox has struggled with incidents of bleeding from the lungs in the past but was not troubled in the Sandy Blue, her first stakes win. Curlin’s Fox set the pace under jockey Mike Smith and pulled clear to win by 4 1/2 lengths over Singing Kitty as the 2-1 second choice in a field of five.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Class Leader has never run in a Grade 1 race or won a graded stakes. Imperative is a Grade 2 winner who is winless in seven Grade 1 or Group 1 races on two continents and has not raced since April.

There will be a big crowd trying to secure one of 10 spots in the gate for the $3 million All American Futurity for Quarter Horses at Ruidoso Downs.

The New Mexico track has drawn 325 entrants for its trials for the All American. There will be 17 trials each this coming Friday and Saturday, the track announced, for a total of 34 heats. First post for each program will be 10 a.m. Mountain.

The 2-year-olds with the five fastest times from each date of trials will earn a spot in the gate for the finale on Labor Day, Sept. 7.

AUBURN, Wash. – It’s been a lean year for Paula Capestro. More than seven months in, the Southern California-based trainer has saddled just two winners: Blondy’s Reward captured a maiden claimer at Del Mar last month, and Fleet Eagle, the longest shot on the board at 39-1, won the Governor’s Handicap at Emerald Downs in May.

To find a rider winning at a 3 percent rate with a mount at Indiana Grand on a routine Tuesday isn’t a surprise. Low-percentage and infrequently used riders aren’t out of the ordinary there, or at any second-tier track around the country.

It’s just rare when that same rider is a six-time champion jockey, but such is the case Tuesday, when Kieren Fallon, the leading rider in Britain six times, rides in a pair of grass races at Indiana Grand for trainer Ben Colebrook.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When The Big Beast ran second to Rock Fall in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt on Aug. 1, trainer Tony Dutrow thought he had The Big Beast as good as he could have him. Two weeks later, he thinks The Big Beast is even better.

On Friday, The Big Beast worked five furlongs in 1:00.65 over Saratoga’s main track, galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.57 and seven-eighths in 1:28.32.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association announced Friday that all 50,000 paid admission tickets available for the Aug. 29 Travers card have been sold.

Two weeks ago, NYRA announced that for the first time it would be capping attendance at 50,000 paid admissions despite the fact that there had been five Travers days with higher attendance.

Clubhouse and grandstand season passes are valid and will be accepted on Travers Day.

The cap remains in place whether American Pharoah runs in the Travers or not.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The field of candidates for the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 22 began to shrink Friday.

The trainers of Bailoutbobby, Bayern, and Warren’s Veneda said they will not run or are considering other races. Bayern, the winner of the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita last November, might run in the $250,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs the same day, trainer Bob Baffert said. Bayern is winless in three starts this year, including a fourth in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap here July 25.