STICKNEY, Ill. – Between nine and 13 horses are expected to be entered Wednesday when the Grade 2, $250,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup is drawn. The Gold Cup, the lone graded stakes race at Hawthorne’s fall-winter meet, will be contested Saturday.

Hawthorne racing officials as of Sunday listed the following horses as probable starters in the 1 1/4-mile dirt race: Abraham, Code West, Effinex, Ever Rider, Fordubai, Hattaash, Mister Marti Gras, Red Rifle, and Street Spice. Still considered possible entrants are Call Me George, Midnight Aria, Hope for Today, and Indy Awesome.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Al Stall Jr. knows how to gauge the depth of the Clark Handicap.

“Blame won the Clark in 2009, when it was a Grade 2,” Stall said, referring to his all-time best horse, who a year later was voted champion older male after winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic. “He beat a really good field [in the Clark]. Misremembered and Einstein were in there, and it was a full field of 14. The very next week, the race was upgraded to a Grade 1.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva, who piloted Up With the Birds to his only win of this season in the Grade 2 Nijinsky Stakes at Woodbine on July 19, will have the mount for Sunday’s Group 1 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse.

“I’m very excited,” Da Silva said. “I’m grateful for [owner] Sam-Son [Farm] to invite me to ride the horse. I just hope he runs a good race, and I think he will because he’s doing very well right now.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse recorded his meet-leading 21st stakes victory in last Saturday’s Glorious Song Stakes and will look to add to that total this weekend with strong representation in both 2-year-old stakes races.

Casse said he likely will run Danzig Moon in the $250,000 Coronation Futurity on Saturday, while Galina Point and Shez a Masterpiece likely will start in the $150,000 Ontario Lassie Stakes on Sunday. But Casse added that there’s a chance that Shez a Masterpiece will take on males in the Coronation Futurity.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The summer heat on the East Coast threatened to ruin the career of the 4-year-old filly Three Hearts earlier this year.

In the summer of 2013 and again earlier this year, the filly suffered the effects of heat stroke after races in Virginia and New York. Barry Irwin, who directs the Team Valor International partnership that owns Three Hearts, decided to make a drastic move.

The filly was sent to trainer Neil Drysdale in California in September.

VINTON, La. – Take Charge Brandi might have strengthened her credentials for champion 2-year-old filly Saturday with her clear win in the Grade 3, $400,000 Delta Downs Princess, but the race also ended up showcasing her versatile nature. Take Charge Brandi stalked and rolled home by 1 1/2 lengths, one start after wiring the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies field at 61-1.

DEL MAR, Calif. – California Chrome, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, worked a half-mile on turf in 52 seconds on Sunday morning at Del Mar in what was to serve as a test drive for a scheduled start Saturday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Hollywood Derby here.

His trainer, Art Sherman, later Sunday morning said he was “satisfied with the work” and planned to enter California Chrome at entry time Wednesday. Sherman also said he hoped to get California Chrome back on the turf early Thursday morning so he could open gallop through the lane.

VINTON, La. – Ocho Ocho Ocho will be put on the Santa Anita Derby trail next year, trainer Jim Cassidy said on Sunday, a day after the horse won his two-turn debut in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot. Ocho Ocho Ocho fought for a nose win over Mr. Z to remain undefeated in three starts. He left the Delta Downs stable area Sunday morning to return home to Santa Anita.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Led by Lexie Lou, the Queen’s Plate winner in July, trainer Mark Casse will have a big team of runners for stakes in the final days of the Del Mar autumn meeting.

Lexie Lou, who won her California debut in the Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes over a mile on turf for 3-year-olds fillies Oct. 25 at Santa Anita, will start in the $300,000 Hollywood Derby next Saturday. The Hollywood Derby is run over 1 1/8 miles on turf, a distance that appeals to Casse.

“The farther for her, the better,” Casse said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Phil Sims said Friday from Keeneland that he is “seriously considering” running Don’t Tell Sophia in the Grade 2 Falls City at Churchill Downs on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.

Sims said Don’t Tell Sophia has trained forwardly since finishing second to Untapable in the Oct. 31 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and that there “really aren’t any drawbacks” to racing the 6-year-old mare one more time before heading to Oaklawn Park for the winter.