There will be 23 stakes worth $10.1 million offered during the four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival that will be held at Saratoga on June 6-9, with nine races having to be run at different distances than in previous years due to the difference in circumference of Saratoga compared to Belmont Park.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – While the $3 million Pegasus World Cup will command the bulk of the attention, and rightly so, here Saturday it is the second race on the card, a maiden special weight seven-furlong dash for 3-year-olds, that could have the most ramifications moving forward. One year ago the world got its first look at 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, who launched his career on the Pegasus undercard with a convincing 3 3/4-length maiden victory for trainer Gustavo Delgado.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – When Ruby Nell runs in Saturday’s $1 million Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf it will represent the first starter at Gulfstream Park for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella since March 10, 2001 when Shutup and Dance won the Candy Eclair Stakes.

Much like that filly, who went gate to wire in that six-furlong overnight stakes, Ruby Nell is a speed filly who has won three of her last four starts, including the Lady of Shamrock Stakes on Dec. 31 at Santa Anita.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – As far back as November, owner Jake Ballis figured there would not be a superstar running in the Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park in January and he wanted to have a horse to run in the race.

It took until mid-December, but Ballis and several of his partners got a deal done to purchase the multiple listed stakes winner Nimitz Class, who will break from the rail in a field of 12 in Saturday’s Pegasus.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Robert Falcone Jr. is just one scratch away from getting his improving Castle Chaos into the field for Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational. But with Castle Chaos also cross-entered earlier on the card in the Grade 3 Fred Hooper, the question is: Will Falcone and the connections of Castle Chaos opt to run in the main event should the opportunity ultimately present itself later in the week?

The seven-figure purse deficits Del Mar and Santa Anita have amassed in recent years will take considerable time to eliminate and are likely to rise in the short-term, several racing and track executives said in the last week.

According to discussions at the California Horse Racing Board meeting on June 18 in Sacramento, Santa Anita has a current purse overpayment of approximately $4 million, while Del Mar has overpaid purses by $2.1 million.

Both tracks have taken measures in the last year to reverse the trend by cutting prize money, a trend widely expected to continue.

Sydney “Chip” Dutrow will be the trainer of record of Master Piece when he runs in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park. Chip Dutrow is the assistant to his brother Rick, who has trained Master Piece since May.

Rick Dutrow has not run a horse in Florida since he returned from a 10-year suspension handed him by the New York State Gaming Commission (née Racing Commission) last April. Dutrow is not licensed in Florida, but is not barred from applying for one and is not expected to be denied if and when he does.

Opportunities to ride in Grade 1 races don’t come often enough for jockey Kendrick Carmouche, which is why he was disappointed to lose the mount on the undefeated Integration for Saturday’s $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Edwin Maldonado, sidelined since Jan. 6 after sustaining a shoulder injury in a morning workout, is booked to return to riding on Friday with six mounts on an eight-race program at Santa Anita.

Maldonado, 31, will be hoping to return to the form he showed in the first weeks of the current winter-spring meeting.

Despite not riding in nearly four weeks, Maldonado is tied for seventh place in the jockey standings with six wins from 15 mounts. Through Sunday, Flavien Prat and Juan Hernandez are tied for the lead with 18 wins.

ARCADIA, Calif. – More than three months after she sustained fractured sesamoids in a workout at Santa Anita, the 2021 champion Echo Zulu continues her recovery at a local veterinary clinic.

The 5-year-old Echo Zulu is likely to remain at the clinic for considerable time, according to Scott Blasi, assistant trainer to Steve Asmussen.

“We’re still progressing,” Blasi said on Sunday.

“We’re not to the point to turn her out or anything like that yet. It’s still a week-by-week thing.”