Trainer Graham Motion cut his numbers advantage in half by scratching two of the four 3-year-old fillies he entered in Wednesday’s $50,000 Christiana Stakes at Delaware Park. Motion kept the right pair, however, as Joy emerged from a three-way stretch battle with Savvy Hester and Hold Our Destiny to prevail by a length in the one-mile turf race.

It was the second straight turf win and third overall victory in 11 lifetime starts for Joy ($7), ridden for the first time by Matt Rispoli. She ran the distance on a course upgraded from yielding to firm during the card in 1:37.90.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Shug McGaughey said Data Link seems to be improving after showing some negative signs in his right hind leg shortly after his fourth-place finish as the 3-5 favorite in the Poker Stakes on July 4.

At Fair Hill in Maryland to watch Kentucky Derby winner Orb breeze, McGaughey also watched Data Link jog over the dirt surface.

“Today I thought he was pretty good, not altogether perfect, but I feel like he’s getting better,” McGaughey said. “He was a little bit funny in his back right, nothing significant. Maybe he just pulled something.”

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The North American turf-racing season is in full swing. A horseman with a grass-stakes runner has his pick of races from coast to coast, and unless a racetrack has Grade 1 status or a fat purse to offer, the chance of luring high-class entrants from outside a region is slim.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Bad Hombre, who was a bit of a disappointment as a 2-year-old, seems to have found his groove midway through his 3-year-old season and will be given a stakes opportunity at in his next start, trainer John Kimmel said.

A 2 1/4-length winner of a one-mile, first-level allowance race last Saturday, Bad Hombre could be a candidate for the $100,000 Curlin Stakes on July 26 or the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes the following day.

Tell a Great Story and Ile St. Molly, separated by a nose when they met last month, are rematched going a slightly longer distance in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Delaware Oaks at Delaware Park.

The Oaks, which drew a field of nine 3-year-old fillies when entries closed Wednesday afternoon, headlines a card that also features the Grade 3, $200,000 Robert Dick Memorial Stakes for fillies and mares going 1 3/8 miles on turf.

Ile St. Molly (post 8) and Tell a Great Story (post 9) drew unfavorably on the far outside.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The 3-year-old sprint division might have picked up an intriguing new player in Mentor Cane, who returned from a six-month layoff to win a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race by five lengths last Saturday at Belmont Park.

Mentor Cane, a son of Mizzen Mast, ran the distance in 1:15.26 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 97.

“We always liked him,” trainer John Shir­reffs said. “Obviously, that kind of race you can’t predict. It was a very powerful race. That certainly surprised us. We thought he was going to run well. He’s a strong horse.”

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Owner Kenneth Ramsey will have the nation covered in stakes horses this weekend.

A prominent Kentucky-based owner and breeder, Ramsey and his wife, Sarah, will have stakes starters at Arlington Park in Chicago, Canterbury Park in Minnesota, Colonial Downs in Virginia, and a rare California runner when Emotional Kitten starts in Saturday’s $350,000 American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Betfair Hollywood Park.

“It’s a big weekend,” he said Wednesday.

Kitten’s Joy left his mark in the Virginia Derby on the expansive Colonial Downs turf course in 2004, rallying from 16 lengths back to win going away.

Nearly 10 years later, Kitten’s Joy still has a presence in the Virginia Derby, this time as a sire. Three of the 10 entrants in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Virginia Derby are offspring of Kitten’s Joy – Redwood Kitten, Charming Kitten, and Fear the Kitten.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Coming off a solid second-place finish in the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap on Belmont Stakes Day, Optimizer is back for a return engagement in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Man o’ War Stakes, the final graded event of the spring/summer meet.

The Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association has sent letters to the state’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering contending that the division should not have issued a slot-machine license to Calder Race Course due to the lack of a purse agreement between horsemen and the track.