SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Bob Baffert, who won Saturday’s Grade 1 Ballerina with Hope Road, will seek another Saratoga Grade 1 victory when he sends Buetane cross-country for a start in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 1. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Two horses whose stock continues to rise in the national sprint division, Book’em Danno and Patch Adams, enhanced their status even further after becoming Grade 1 winners for the second time with victories in the Forego and H. Allen Jerkens stakes, respectively, on Saturday’s Travers undercard at Saratoga.

DEL MAR, Calif. – August has been a unique month for Southern California-based trainer Mark Glatt, with a remote chance to squeeze in a career milestone next weekend.

On Aug. 17, Glatt was inducted into the Washington state racing hall of fame. Glatt, 52, began his training career in the 1990s in Washington, his home state.

On Saturday at Del Mar, the Glatt-trained Dr. Venkman won for the first time in nearly 13 months in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs, earning a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 1.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There was a time when trainer Kenny McPeek was thinking of pointing Thorpedo Anna to the Breeders’ Cup Classic. 

After watching Sovereignty win the Travers in the manner in which he did – and combined with the résumé Sovereignty has put together, McPeek seems content to point Thorpedo Anna, the reigning Horse of the Year, to a repeat try in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Having asserted his dominance yet again in the 3-year-old division with his 10-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers Stakes, Sovereignty will next attempt to tackle what seemingly is a deep roster of older dirt males in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. 

A short field featuring an overwhelming favorite in Saturday’s Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course cost the New York Racing Association dearly in handle, with betting on the Travers falling 47.5 percent compared to last year’s race, according to charts of the races. 

Handle on the Travers itself, including all multi-race bets ending in the race, was $9.6 million, according to the charts, well below last year’s total of $18.3 million.  

DEL MAR, Calif. – A sharp workout by Journalism on Saturday at Del Mar moved the 3-year-old closer to a start against older in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Aug. 30, though the colt’s connections stopped short of making it official. 

Journalism worked five furlongs in 1:00 under jockey Umberto Rispoli, a 6:30 a.m. workout in company with Michael McCarthy-trained stablemate Phosphorescence. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Sierra Leone and Fierceness, the one-two finishers from last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, both put in workouts Saturday morning at Saratoga, but it is increasingly likely they will not be facing each other here in the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Aug. 31. 

Grand Slam Smile won the sixth stakes of her career, but first under the direction of trainer Sean McCarthy, in the $151,500 Solana Beach Stakes at Del Mar last Sunday.

The win in the one-mile turf race for statebred fillies and mares, achieved in a front-running manner, has left McCarthy eager to start Grand Slam Smile at the Santa Anita autumn meeting, which runs from Sept. 26 to Oct. 26.