Mr Speaker took another step toward a possible start in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes here at Saratoga next month by working four furlongs in 48.88 seconds Saturday over Saratoga’s main track.

It was Mr Speaker’s second work on dirt since he won the Grade 1, $1.25 million Belmont Derby on turf July 5. It was his first work over the main track, having breezed last week over the Oklahoma training track.

Trainer Shug McGaughey said last week that he would give Mr Speaker every opportunity to prove that he belongs in the Travers.

Delaware Park has lowered the purses for its higher-level overnight races to preserve its purse account.

The Stanton, Del., track’s casino, which is the major contributor to racing purses, is facing increased competition from casino gambling in other Mid-Atlantic states.

Palace, the former claimer turned multiple graded stakes winner, will set his sights on his first Grade 1 race in next Saturday’s $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga.

On Saturday, Palace put in his final breeze for the Vanderbilt by working four furlongs in 48.29 seconds over the main track, galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.22.

“Very happy with the way he’s coming into this race,” trainer Linda Rice said. “He won over the course last year, six furlongs is right up his alley, and he’s training great.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tea Time, a winner of two listed stakes in the Mid-Atlantic region in the last two months, sizzled a half-mile in 46.67 seconds over Saratoga’s main track Saturday in preparation for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Test Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Under exercise rider Clare Byrnes, Tea Time started behind the maiden Skidmore, quickly engaged her a quarter-mile into the work, then glided away from her late.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Eric Guillot is never one to be at a loss for words, but when asked what he thought about Moreno’s lone work in preparation for next Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney, he simply said, “I thought it was good.”

After which, he just couldn’t contain himself any longer.

“I think after the Whitney, [the New York Racing Association] should put up half a million [dollars] and make a match race between Moreno and Palace Malice at 8:45 in the morning,” Guillot said with a laugh. “There isn’t a horse in the country that’s going to outwork this horse.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – Irish Surf is a candidate for the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 24 after winning the first stakes of his career in Friday’s $100,750 Cougar II Handicap in track-record time.

Irish Surf ($17.60) took charge of the Grade 3 race over 1 1/2 miles after a half-mile, led by eight lengths on the backstretch, and won by 8 1/4 lengths over even-money favorite Sky Kingdom. Irish Surf was timed in 2:29.01, lowering the previous mark of 2:29.22 set by Richard’s Kid in the 2012 Cougar II Handicap.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer John Snow is hoping that either Wilo Kat or Twistgrips will give him a second win in the $75,000 B.C. Cup Classic. The 1 1/8-mile Classic is the main attraction of the six stakes races restricted to British Columbia-breds that will make up the bulk of the card on B.C. Cup Day, Monday, Aug. 4.

Since its inception in 1995, B.C. Cup Day has either been the top or second-best day in terms of attendance and handle at Hastings.

Hootenanny, the winner of the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot last month, may return to Europe for a leading group stakes for 2-year-olds in August, trainer Wesley Ward said Friday.

Hootenanny is under consideration for two six-furlong races – the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at York on Aug. 23 or the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville the following day. Ward won the 2013 Prix Morny with No Nay Never, who won the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2013.

Wayne Catalano remained in the intensive-care unit at Saint Alexius Hospital in northwest suburban Chicago as of Friday evening, but the veteran trainer has continued progressing from a severe case of pneumonia.

String King is a gangster. Well, sort of.

The top-class Louisiana-bred turfer goes by “Floyd” around the barn in reference to a notorious bank robber.

“I used to call him pretty boy this and pretty boy that,” said Charlie Smith, who bred, owns, and trains String King. “He is pretty. But pretty boy didn’t quite fit his demeanor. He used to be so rank, so full of himself. He was a handful. Pretty Boy Floyd was a gangster back in the early ’30s or ’40s, so that’s how he got his nickname as Floyd.”