The 1 1/8-mile distance of Saturday night’s $75,000 DeBartolo Memorial Handicap at Remington Park has made the turf race an attractive spot for an eclectic mix of horses. Daddy Nose Best is a multiple Grade  3 winner at the trip. She’s All In faces males off a runner-up finish to champion Royal Delta in the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap. Ocean Seven, a half-brother to Goldikova, and Bluegrass Bull, in from Arlington Park, both were winners at the distance in July.

In 150 years of races on Union Avenue, none has been anticipated more than the Travers on Aug. 19, 1978. This was the 10th meeting of Affirmed and Alydar, in the oldest stakes race in the country, and two months after their soul-stirring clash in the Belmont Stakes, Affirmed denying Alydar once more with all the chips down.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Seven of the nine fillies entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Test Stakes at Saratoga are stakes winners. But it may be the horse who has never before run in a black-type event that proves the one to beat.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jonathan Sheppard took his rightful place in the Saratoga winner’s circle Thursday following the Grade 1, $150,000 New York Turf Writers Cup Steeplechase Handicap after Italian Wedding outsprinted All Together to the wire to win by one length.

It was the 14th win in this race for the 72-year-old Hall of Fame trainer, who has won a race at Saratoga every year since 1968.

“Not really, no,” Sheppard said when asked if winning the Turf Writers Cup ever gets old. “I hope I can do it again.”

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DEL MAR, Calif. – It was quiet. Too quiet. The draw for the Pacific Classic, which became the soap-opera story of the summer one year ago, was a far more sedate affair Wednesday night at a local resort, with the two human participants in last year’s steel-cage death match both opting to sit this out.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There have been many instances when the best 3-year-old in the country was anything but special on Kentucky Derby Day.

As usual, trainer Greg Tracy has a stakes for 2-year-olds at Northlands Park surrounded with three of the seven horses entered in Saturday’s $50,000 Birdcatcher for colts and geldings.

Oddly, Tracy doesn’t have any horses entered in the $50,000 Bird of Pay for 2-year-old fillies that will share the spotlight on an eight-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Mountain.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – The $60,000 Omnibus Stakes, Saturday’s feature at Monmouth Park, poses an interesting challenge for the eight fillies and mares entered for 1 3/8 miles on the turf.

Most are unproven at the distance and the three-turn contest will help determine which of the runners are the genuine stayers over an extended distance.

Seanchai owns the lone victory in the field at the distance, a pace­setting first-level allowance score in January at Gulfstream Park for trainer Todd Pletcher. A 4-year-old, Seanchai has run once at the meet, finishing fourth going one mile.

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DEL MAR, Calif. – For the first time in his 25-race career, Vagabond Shoes races at 1 3/8 miles on turf in Saturday’s $200,000 Del Mar Handicap. The distance and surface give trainer John Sadler confidence that the 6-year-old Vagabond Shoes can end a seven-race losing streak and win his first stakes in the United States.

The last time Sr. Quisqueyano raced two turns on dirt he soared to a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure and romped by 7 1/2 lengths. Whether he can regain that form following two unsuccessful attempts sprinting and a bad one-race experiment on turf is a question handicappers must answer when rating the contenders in Saturday’s $100,000 Eight Miles East Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

The 3-year-old Sr. Quisqueyano will be facing older horses for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile Eight Miles East, which drew eight runners, led by graded stakes winner Where’s Sterling.