Senor Buscador, winner of the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar in July, will have his next start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, joining a growing list of leading runners for that race who are bypassing the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 30.

Trained by Todd Fincher for Joe Peacock, Senor Buscador finished fourth by 2 1/2 lengths in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles on Sept. 2 at Del Mar. The BC Classic is run at 1 1/4 miles.

“We’ll wait and give it our best shot,” Fincher said. 

Friday is comeback day at Los Alamitos for jockey Abel Cedillo, who has not ridden since he suffered a neck injury in a fall July 23 at Del Mar.

Cedillo has one mount on Friday and two on Saturday. He is riding the final weekend of the two-week Los Alamitos meeting through Sunday before the Santa Anita autumn meeting begins Sept. 29.

Cedillo received doctor’s clearance to resume riding earlier this month and began exercising horses on Sept. 14. He worked two horses that day and said he had no residual soreness from the neck injury.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The New York State Gaming Commission fined New York Racing Association racing official Rob MacLennan $2,000 for failing to tend to business in a professional manner, necessitating two claims to be voided, according to a ruling on the Gaming Commission website.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - All sources handle for opening week at the Belmont At the Big A meet was $35,780,104, down 6.4 percent from last year’s figure of $38,234,761 when Belmont’s fall meet was also conducted at Aqueduct.

There were 38 races run during opening week at this year’s meet compared to 40 last year. All 19 scheduled turf races were run on turf this year just as all 20 scheduled turf races remained on turf last year.

Average field size so far this meet has been 7.89 with 300 betting interests compared to 7.73 with 309 betting interests last year.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The first step in trainer Chad Brown’s plan to keep his top fillies and mares separated on potentially the road to the Breeders’ Cup worked to perfection when Search Results won last Saturday’s Grade 3 Locust Grove Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths at Churchill Downs.

Brown chose to run Search Results in the Locust Grove so he could run his 3-year-old filly Randomized, winner of the Grade 1 Alabama last month, in the Grade 2 Beldame versus older females at Aqueduct on Oct. 8.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ways and Means came out of her runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes on Sept. 3 at Saratoga with an injury and will not race again this year, trainer Chad Brown said Wednesday.

Ways and Means appeared to clip heels with the ultimate winner Brightwork early down the backside in the Spinaway. Ways and Means was beaten a half-length by Brightwork while finishing 6 1/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Wonder Ride.

Brown said Ways and Means took a chip off her right ankle.

Prominent California trainers Carla Gaines and Peter Miller are in the midst of seven-day suspensions for medication violations found in their runners earlier this year, according to rulings recently published by the Horseracing and Welfare Integrity Unit.

Gaines and Miller had horses test positive for the tranquilizer acepromazine. They were each fined $1,000 and suspended one week. The suspensions end on Friday.

Gaines was cited for a positive found in a post-workout test taken on July 14 from Summer Lake, who has not raced since May 2022.

Santa Anita is adding an all-turf $3 pick three to its betting menu for the autumn meeting from Sept. 29 through Nov. 5, one of two significant changes for bettors for the six-week season.

The all-turf pick three will be offered on the final three grass races daily, weather permitting, and has a minimum bet far more expensive than the 50-cent pick three bets offered on a daily basis.

Arabian Knight, the game winner of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sept. 2, will make his next start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 4, trainer Bob Baffert said on Wednesday.

“I’ll probably go straight to the Breeders’ Cup,” Baffert said.

Baffert has the option of a local prep with Arabian Knight in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 30. Arabian Knight has not had a workout since the Pacific Classic, which he won by a neck over fellow 3-year-old Geaux Rocket Ride after a duel through the final furlong.

Churchill Downs began enforcing new claiming rules at the start of its meet last week that requires trainers to have made a start in Kentucky since July 7 before being allowed to submit a claim on behalf of an owner.

The requirement is one of three new “house rules” that trainers must agree to as part of their participation at the meet. The rules are designed to limit claiming activity from out-of-state trainers and keep horses within the state after being claimed, at a time when Churchill-owned tracks now dominate the year-round live racing calendar in Kentucky.