ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Wise Dan, the defending champion and marquee player, is slated to arrive early Friday morning for Sunday’s Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile.

Trained by Charlie LoPresti, Wise Dan breezed four furlongs in 48.20 seconds at his Keeneland base Tuesday morning, six days after breezing five furlongs there in 59 and galloping out six furlongs in 1:11.

“He’s really fit and ready to go,” LoPresti said. “Maybe we’ll take him over to the paddock and school him, and he will have a gallop day, probably on Saturday like we did last year.”

Groupie Doll rebounded from a defeat in her 5-year-old debut to set a track record Monday night in repeating as the winner of the Grade 2, $400,200 Presque Isle Downs Masters, the annual showcase at the Erie, Pa., track

With Rajiv Maragh aboard, Groupie Doll ran down Purely Hot to win by 1 1/2 lengths, completing the 6 1/2-furlong distance in 1:14.88 over the Tapeta synthetic and returning $3 to win as the heavy favorite. Judy the Beauty, the 3-1 second choice, was another three-quarters of a length back in third in a field of nine fillies and mares.

The first full week of Belmont’s fall meet begins with a salty first-level allowance for fillies, and also includes a pick six with a $137,011 double carryover after the bet went un-hit opening weekend.

The opener – which is also now the first leg of a 50-cent minimum pick five with a 15 percent takeout – drew a field of just five, but among them are Cue the Moon and Galloping Giraffe, who drop from respective fourth-place finishes behind division leader Princess of Sylmar in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dale Romans was smack in the middle of quite a few wild scenes in the winner’s circle last year, when he earned the Eclipse Award as top trainer, but such celebrations have not been nearly as frequent this year.

Fortunately for Romans, the good feelings were rekindled Saturday night during an eventful Downs After Dark program at Churchill Downs, where he sent out Cleburne and Smart Cover to finish first and second at 34-1 and 26-1 in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes. Both colts are owned by Donegal Racing.

POMONA, Calif. – Echo Zulu could have waited for a richer race later this week, with double the purse that he runs for Wednesday at the Los Angeles County Fair.

Then trainer Peter Miller figured, “Why wait?” He will start Echo Zulu in the $50,000 C.B. Afflerbaugh Stakes on Wednesday rather than the $100,000 Barretts Juvenile on Sunday.

“We were looking at the Barretts, but we thought this spot would be easier,” Miller said. “It’s half the money, but we thought we would give him a break.”

POMONA, Calif. – Increased competition in the simulcast market and a punishing local heat wave were key factors responsible for a significant decline in handle on opening weekend of the Los Angeles County Fair race meet.

Barretts at Fairplex handled only slightly more than $13 million the first three days of the meet, Friday through Sunday. It was a 13.7 percent drop from the corresponding period in 2012, when opening weekend handle exceeded $15 million.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Excaper, pointing for Sunday’s Woodbine Mile, breezed four furlongs in 50.40 seconds on the E.P. Taylor turf course here Monday morning.

The Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, which offers a purse of $1 million, is expected to go with a field of six headed by defending champion Wise Dan and is a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita.

After he dominated a first-level turf allowance race at Churchill Downs in the fall of his 2-year-old year, it looked as if Monastic might be any kind of horse.

But it wasn’t long thereafter that the gelding contracted equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), and he hasn’t been the same since.

Lord Calezaar is a maiden, but he still looks like the one to beat in a first-level allowance race at Northlands Park on Wednesday. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds and up drew five starters, two of which are fillies, and will be run as the second of eight races. Post time for the first race is 6 p.m. Mountain.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The filly Professor’s Ride has had only one rider, Michelle Rainford, through her 13-start career.

Last Saturday, Professor’s Ride gave the 33-year-old Rainford her first stakes win when she outdueled Strut the Course to prevail by a neck in the $125,000 La Prevoyante Stakes at one mile on yielding turf.

“Both horses ran really hard,” Rainford said. “I like it when you have two horses trying to win the race. That’s what makes it exciting.”