Trainer Todd Pletcher has confirmed Protonico, a five-length winner of the Grade 3 Ben Ali here last weekend, for the Grade 2 Alysheba at Churchill Downs on the May 1 Kentucky Oaks undercard.

Pletcher said Stopchargingmaria, second in the Grade 1 Madison on opening weekend, will run back in the Grade 1 La Troienne, also on the Oaks card, while adding “we have not ruled out” the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on the May 2 Kentucky Derby undercard for Jack Milton, the winner of the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile last Friday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Saturday highlight at Keeneland is supposed to be the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes for older turf marathoners, but perhaps the most notable race is an otherwise-nondescript allowance for 3-year-olds.

Hootenanny, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last fall at Santa Anita, makes his 3-year-old debut in the fourth of 10 races, a 5 1/2-furlong turf allowance with wide-open conditions and a $64,000 purse.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Jimmy Jerkens was planning to run Classic Point in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct but has reversed course and will now point the 6-year-old mare to the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 2, Kentucky Derby Day.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Stablemates Wicked Strong and V. E. Day each put in a stamina-building workout Wednesday at Belmont Park as they prepare for their next engagements.

Wicked Strong, last year’s Wood Memorial winner, worked a mile in 1:42.28 over the training track and will make his next start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Excelsior at Aqueduct on April 25.

Breaking off at the half-mile pole under exercise rider Kelvin Pahal, Wicked Strong went his first half-mile in 51.09 seconds and his last half-mile in 50.17. He galloped out 1 1/8 miles in 1:56.38.

Del Mar is offering a 43-race stakes program for its summer meeting that is similar to last year’s, with a slightly lower overall value.

The summer meeting, from July 16 through Sept. 7, has stakes worth $7,950,000, a decline of $100,000 from last year. The track has increased purses for two leading turf stakes, cut the purses of three graded stakes by $50,000 each, and reduced purses of 10 overnight stakes from $90,000 to $80,000.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Rick Violette said Wednesday that his Kentucky Derby contender, Upstart, continues to progress nicely after having a scheduled breeze canceled last Saturday at Palm Meadows.

Violette canceled the work, which was to be Upstart’s first since the Florida Derby, after discovering that Upstart had some discharge from his nostrils and was running a temperature just prior to sending him to the track to breeze. Upstart was subsequently diagnosed with a sinus infection.  

The Friday card at Pimlico will get off to an interesting start as fan favorite Ben’s Cat will make his 9-year-old debut in the second race, a no-conditions, five-furlong turf sprint with a $55,000 purse.

Trained by King Leatherbury, Ben’s Cat ended 2014 on a high note, turning in what may have been his strongest performance of the year to win the $200,000 Fabulous Strike Handicap at Penn National in late November. He concluded the season with an 8-4-2-1 record and $458,000 in earnings.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – His career is all of six weeks old, but already Eric Cancel has some convinced that he has a bright future as a jockey in North America.

Since riding his first mount in the U.S. on March 1, Cancel, 18, has won 10 races from 63 mounts, achieving success at the prestigious Gulfstream Park winter meet before moving his tack to New York two weeks ago. He is a seven-pound apprentice. He will become a five-pound apprentice after he wins his 40th race and will be able to ride with that weight allowance until next March.

When the gates open for the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic on Saturday, it won’t be difficult to find Moreno. He’s going to be the horse on the lead.

“If you are in front of us early, you are probably going too fast,” trainer Eric Guillot said.

Moreno’s two biggest wins have come in the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga last summer and the Grade 2 Dwyer at Belmont Park in 2013. Both were accomplished on the front end.

Shared Belief had a final breeze at Golden Gate Fields on Tuesday prior to his Saturday start in the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic. Shared Belief breezed a half-mile over the Tapeta main track in 51.80 seconds with Russell Baze aboard.

“We just gave him an easy half,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said. “Russell was very happy with the work.”