SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Frammento, the fifth-place finisher in the Belmont Stakes, worked a half-mile in 48.24 seconds here Friday, making up three lengths on his workmate, Battle Midway, who most recently was fourth in the Long Branch at Monmouth. Frammento is being pointed to the Grade 2 Jim Dandy here Aug. 1.

Trainer Nick Zito said he liked that Frammento pulled away from his workmate under exercise rider Maxine Correa.

“He tries to hang on a horse when he works in company,” Zito said. “She shook him up and got away from that horse.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Back at Saratoga, where they finished noses apart when one-two in last year’s Travers Stakes, stablemates V. E. Day and Wicked Strong both worked this week for the Whitney.

V. E. Day, second in the Brooklyn last out, worked four furlongs in 48.98 seconds on Friday. Working by himself, V. E. Day went his first quarter in 24.52 seconds and his second quarter in 24.46. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.35 and six furlongs in 1:16.24.

“Real good,” said trainer Jimmy Jerkens. “Nice and on his own. We’re happy with how he’s doing.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Christophe Clement had John Velazquez work Tonalist for a second consecutive week on Friday, with Velazquez guiding him through a five-furlong move in 1:01.33 over the Oklahoma training track. Clement said he wanted Velazquez to learn more about Tonalist before he rides him in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes here Aug. 8.

This year, Velazquez has ridden Tonalist to runner-up finishes in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap and Grade 2 Suburban. In the latter race, Velazquez let the horse move too soon and was outkicked by Effinex, losing by a head.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Robert “Bobby” W. Hall was 85 when he died peacefully at his home at Emerald Acres in Aldergrove, British Columbia, with his daughter Sandra Loseth by his side Wednesday. Hall will forever be linked to an historic moment in horse racing in North America.

There were just 53 horses entered on Sunday’s eight-race card, and since Arlington expanded its racing week from three to four days in July, the struggle to fill races with a diminished equine population at a track with purses barely competitive in the region has grown more intense. Average starters per race was a respectable (these days) 7.61 in May and June but is down to 6.96 in July.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Any lingering doubts trainer Todd Pletcher might have had about whether Daredevil would like the grass were erased Friday when the Grade 1 winner turned in a sparkling half-mile drill with jockey Javier Castellano aboard over the Oklahoma turf course.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – With a four-win Thursday – half of the eight-race card – jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. moved to within three victories, 44-41, of leading rider Mitchell Murrill at the Arlington meet.

And that is a long, long way from where Valdivia sat when, for the first time in a long career, he moved his tack to Arlington for a meet that began May 1. From the start of 2015 until that point, riding at the Gulfstream meeting, Valdivia, 40, had won just three races from 92 mounts, a far cry from his heyday as a mainstay on the Southern California circuit.

Jockey Oriana Rossi underwent seven hours of what was termed successful spinal surgery Thursday at Indiana University Healthcare Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis in the aftermath of a Wednesday spill at Indiana Grand, which also led to less serious injuries to two other jockeys.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Keen Pauline, the 15-1 upset winner of the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico on May 15, will return to the races in Sunday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Keen Pauline was one of eight 3-year-old fillies entered Friday for the 1 1/8-mile race, which serves as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Alabama on Aug. 22.

Keen Pauline will face Grade 1 winners Include Betty and Curalina and the multiple graded stakes winner I’m a Chatterbox in the Coaching Club.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It was champions on parade Thursday morning at Saratoga as three Eclipse Award-winning females from 2014 put in workouts here in preparation for stakes engagements.

Shortly after 5:30 a.m., Take Charge Brandi, last year’s 2-year-old filly champion, worked five furlongs in 1:02.49 on the Oklahoma training track in preparation for the Grade 1 Test on Aug. 8. About 40 minutes later, Untapable, last year’s 3-year-old filly champion, worked five furlongs in 1:01.75. She is likely to make her next start in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Aug. 29.