[bc_video_id:322279:]LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The fillies took center stage during the Oaks/Derby training session at Churchill Downs on Thursday, with the only four workouts during that period turned in by horses currently pointing to next Friday’s Kentucky Oaks.

Sunday’s closing-day card at Aqueduct will consist of 10 races, including two divisions of $100,000 Stallion Stakes for progeny of New York-bred stallions.

But the highlight of the card may be the return of Vyjack, last year’s Gotham Stakes winner and third-place finisher in the Wood Memorial. Vyjack, who is running in a $68,000 fourth-level allowance going seven furlongs, is making his first start since a sixth-place finish in the $1 million Haskell Invitational last July at Monmouth.

Sweet Reason, third in the Grade 2 Gazelle last out, will skip the Kentucky Oaks and instead be pointed to the Grade 1, $750,000 Acorn at Belmont on June 7.

The Acorn is run as a one-turn mile. At 2, Sweet Reason won the Grade 1 Spinaway, a seven-furlong race run around one turn, and was a good second in the Grade 1 Frizette, a one-turn, one-mile race at Belmont, following a slow start.

Trainer Leah Gyarmati said she would prefer to give Sweet Reason a little more time before her next start and would like to “go back to one turn.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With a slew of final prerace workouts still to come, all was quiet on the Kentucky Derby front Thursday at Churchill Downs, where overnight rain into Friday morning was expected to keep local activity light until Saturday.

Room Service remains a consideration for the 140th Kentucky Oaks after having a team breeze Thursday at Churchill with her Wayne Catalano-trained stablemate, Aurelia’s Belle. Shaun Bridgmohan was aboard Room Service, who went seven furlongs in 1:28.60.

Having demurred for days, Catalano said afterward he was not ready to decide whether to run Room Service in the Grade 1, $1 million Oaks next Friday, May 2. Room Service, most recently a dead-heat winner of the Grade 1 Ashland over the Keeneland Polytrack for owners Gary and Mary West, has never raced on dirt.

CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome jogged and galloped nearly two miles and was schooled in the starting gate at Los Alamitos on Thursday.

During a 15-minute span in which he had the track to himself, California Chrome was jogged to the gate, where he stood briefly. Trainer Art Sherman said California Chrome has been schooled in the starting gate two or three times a week since his win in the Santa Anita Derby on April 5.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Stewart Elliott had no great expectations about coming back to Kentucky. He’d probably get to ride a few, enjoy the sights of springtime and the festive crowds, sign some memorabilia, and maybe even bask in the nostalgia of his career pinnacle.

“Sure doesn’t seem like 10 years,” said Elliott.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As a teenager in Maryland, Larry Collmus knew he only wanted to do one thing for a living: call horse races. He would amble around the press boxes of Pimlico and Laurel, mimicking callers such as Jack Lamar, Jack Salter, Ross Morton, Costy Caras, and many more.

“That was a long time ago,” said Collmus, 47, “although I do still walk around doing those imitations for no one in particular.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The folks who were here in 1875 probably wouldn’t recognize Churchill Downs anymore. Not only were their beloved Twin Spires dwarfed by a massive remodeling almost 10 years ago, but lights have been installed, including some on the inner perimeter of a turf course, no less.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Justin Nixon appears to have a serious prospect for the $1 million Queen’s Plate on July 6 at Woodbine with Coltimus Prime, who is exiting a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

Coltimus Prime wintered at Palm Beach Downs after finishing a close second here in the Dec. 8 Display Stakes but was awful when he came off the sidelines March 8 in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby.