SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown wasn’t sure what to expect from March in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens at Belmont on June 6. Neither were the bettors.

Sent off at 10-1, March rallied from just off the pace to beat Cinco Charlie by a nose for his second straight graded stakes score. In April, he won the Grade 3 Bay Shore.

“On paper, it looked like his numbers were behind the other ones,” Brown said when asked about his feelings on March entering the Woody Stephens. “We gave him the opportunity to step up, and he did. You have to respect that about the horse.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It has not been a great summer in New York for David Jacobson. The leading trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit for the last three years, Jacobson endured a difficult Belmont spring-summer meet with just 16 wins and 21 seconds from 102 starters. Two summers ago, Jacobson won a record 44 races at the Belmont spring-summer stand.

He has not gotten off to a great start at Saratoga, going winless with his first 14 starters after running fourth and fifth in Wednesday’s second race.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Attendance and handle declined in the first nine days of the Del Mar meeting, according to data released by the track Wednesday.

Through Sunday, average ontrack handle was down 18.6 percent to $2,151,339, while all-sources handle, including simulcasting and account-wagering sources, was down 5.7 percent to $12,536,249. Average attendance was down 12.5 percent to 17,580. The meeting opened July 16.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Fame and Power, the winner of the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico in May, starts Friday in an allowance race that could be a prep for the $100,000 El Cajon Stakes for 3-year-olds on Aug. 29.

Trained by Bob Baffert for Juddmonte Farms, Fame and Power was second as the 1-2 favorite after a slow start June 13 in the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs, his most recent start.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Warren’s Veneda could not lose in the winter, winning three consecutive stakes at Santa Anita. She could not win in the spring and early summer, losing three consecutive stakes.

On Saturday, Warren’s Veneda starts in her third Grade 1 race of the year in the $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at Del Mar. Trainer Craig Lewis is braced for a loss, though not because of Warren’s Veneda’s recent setbacks.

Lewis said Wednesday the presence of two-time champion Beholder makes the Hirsch a difficult assignment for Warren’s Veneda.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Charlie Hayward, a former executive for Daily Racing Form and the New York Racing Association, suffered a fractured pelvis when he was hit by a car while riding a bicycle Saturday.

The lineup for Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga changed significantly at entry time Wednesday and figures to change yet again by post time.

Trainer Todd Pletcher did not enter Florida Derby winner Materiality because he was not pleased with how the horse trained Wednesday. Instead, Pletcher entered Competitive Edge in the $600,000 Jim Dandy but was expected to cross-enter him Thursday for Sunday’s Haskell Invitational, where he would run against Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

Wise Dan, the 2012 and 2013 Horse of the Year, continues to train forwardly at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.. Conditions permitting, the 8-year-old Wise Dan is on schedule to have his third workout this weekend as he continues his comeback from an injury sustained last October.

Trainer Charlie LoPresti has said he is considering several races as return spots for Wise Dan, including the Aug. 15 Fourstardave and Sept. 7 Bernard Baruch, both at Saratoga.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The first time trainer Bob Baffert ever went to Monmouth Park was in 1997. He’s become a regular over the years. Though he’s based here in the summers at Del Mar, Baffert has made the Haskell Invitational a priority, and he’s continued to have every reason to go back, for his record in the race is one of the most dominant of any trainer in any major race this era.

Ellis Park racing officials are expecting a well-matched field of fillies and mares for the western Kentucky track’s signature race, the one-mile Groupie Doll Stakes, to be run next Saturday, Aug. 8.

According to racing secretary Dan Bork, probable starters for the Grade 3, $100,000 race include Ambusher, Enchanting Lisa, Gamblers Rose, Pretty Fancy, Rathbaun, Willow Hills, and “hopefully a few more” from a nominations list of 29. Entries will be taken Sunday.