LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fort Larned passed his final test in preparation for a shot at a Breeders’ Cup repeat when leading throughout as a huge favorite Saturday night in the inaugural running of the $191,275 Homecoming Classic at Churchill Downs.

Fort Larned used his superior speed to open a lead of about six lengths down the backstretch of the 1 1/8-mile race before finishing 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Windswept. The 5-year-old Fort Larned returned $2.60 to win after finishing in 1:48.58 over a fast track.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Pontchatrain got her first stakes win in Saturday’s Unzip Me Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita, giving Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens his fourth win of the 11-race program and his third in a stakes.

Pontchatrain ($13) kicked clear of 11 rivals in the final furlong, winning by three lengths over 50-1 Tribal Spy. Warren’s Venada was third.

Pontchatrain ran about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course in 1:11.86.

As expected, odds-on favorite Marks Mine won the $63,750 Harvest Stakes at the San Joaquin Fair in Stockton on Saturday.

But few expected her to win the way she did, dueling head-and-head the entire six furlongs of the stakes for fillies and mares with longest shot on the board, 36-1 Kitty Marie, before edging away late for a one-half length victory in 1:09.48.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mucho Macho Man might not be based in California, but he sure likes it here.

Second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, Mucho Macho Man served notice that he will be formidable in that race again this year with an emphatic, 4 1/4-length victory Saturday in the Grade 1, $250,000 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita.

The Awesome Again offers a fees-paid berth to the $5 million BC Classic here Nov. 2 through the Win and You’re In program.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Beholder won the fourth Grade 1 race of her career in Saturday’s $250,000 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita, giving trainer Richard Mandella an opportunity to issue a subtle challenge to others pointing fillies and mares to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff here on Nov. 2.

“She’s a filly that loves a fight,” he said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Paul Reddam works in the financial world, where he’s familiar with weighing risks and rewards. He decided the risk of running a maiden in the $250,000 FrontRunner Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita was worth it, and he was rewarded with a Grade 1 win.

ARCADIA, Calif. – There seems to be only a head difference between the top California turf mares Tiz Flirtatious and Marketing Mix.

Back in May, Marketing Mix beat Tiz Flirtatious by that margin in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park. And there was a head between the 5-year-old mares in Saturday’s $250,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita, with Tiz Flirtatious winning after a thrilling stretch run.

ARCADIA, Calif. - A change of scenery and the longest race of her brief career helped Secret Compass score an upset win in Saturday’s $250,500 Chandelier Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.

Ridden for the first time by Rosie Napravnik, Secret Compass ($23.40) closed from fourth in a field of seven to catch 2-1 She’s a Tiger in the final strides and win by a head. She’s a Tiger, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 31, finished three-quarters of a length in front of Fascinating, the 6-5 favorite who remains a maiden after four starts.

ELMONT, N. Y. – Little Mike won three Grade 1 races last year, culminating with the Breeders’ Cup Turf. His worst showing in 2012, by far, came in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational, in which he finished a distant fifth on a deep course he did not like.

ELMONT, N.Y.  - If Bill Mott had his druthers, he would have run Ron the Greek in Saturday’s $400,000 Kelso Invitational going a mile at Belmont Park rather than the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles.

Mott had two-time defending Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Flat Out in the race, and with Ron the Greek having lost his last five starts, Mott thought it might be time to try something different with the 6-year-old son of Full Mandate.