ARCADIA, Calif. - For the record, trainer Kristin Mulhall did not have even a token wager on Oligarch when the Florida stakes winner pulled an upset at 24-1 in an optional claimer on Friday.

Oligarch, who won the Tropical Park Derby in 2011, led throughout the race over 1 1/8 miles on turf, winning by three-quarters of a length over Causeihertz. Oligarch paid $51.60 as the longest shot in the field.

“I can’t believe they let him go off at such a big price,” Mulhall said. “I was kind of shocked. Oh, well.”

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Only Boy captured his second stakes win of the year when he closed from well off the pace to a 1 1/4-length win in the 26th running of the $75,000, Best of Ohio Endurance at Thistledown on Friday afternoon.

Only Boy  got through between horses on the second turn under Jareth Loveberry, angled outside to the five path entering the stretch and rallied determinedly. Raise the Reward was second, 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Bold Captain who finished third.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – As a minor addendum to his training résumé, Cam Gambolati can now say he has a Keeneland victory – and a stakes victory at that.

Gambolati, who trained Spend a Buck to win the 1985 Kentucky Derby but had never won at Keeneland in limited tries, was on hand on a sunny Friday afternoon to saddle 3-year-old Madame Giry to a decisive  2 1/2-length score over older rivals in the $100,000 Franklin County Stakes at Keeneland.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The second race at Santa Anita on Friday was declared a no-contest after one of the runners unseated his jockey at the start of a six-furlong race, reversed direction and ran toward the oncoming field in the stretch, causing the remaining riders to briefly stop riding. Stewards Scott Chaney, Kim Sawyer and Tom Ward reviewed the race before declaring that the race was a no-contest.

ELMONT, N.Y. − Neal McLaughlin, assistant trainer to his brother Kiaran, says he doesn’t remember ever working two Grade 1 winners in company before he put Travers co-winner Alpha and Alabama winner Questing together Friday morning.

Preparing for starts in the Breeders’ Cup, Alpha (Classic) and Questing (Ladies’ Classic) went five furlongs in 59.80 seconds together over the synthetic surface at the Greentree training center in Saratoga.

ARCADIA, Calif. – With a little luck, Jimmy Creed could have won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 6.

That was the impression that trainer Richard Mandella had of the six-furlong race and why he plans to start Jimmy Creed in the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint here on Nov. 3.

“I think with a different trip he could have won,” Mandella said.

Making his graded stakes debut, the 3-year-old Jimmy Creed finished three-quarters of a length behind race winner Coil.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Scatman cut a favorable impression at Keeneland on Thursday, when he returned from a five-month layoff and won a second-level Polytrack allowance in gate-to-wire fashion.

Scatman was a fringe contender on the Triple Crown trail at Oaklawn Park this spring, finishing second in the Southwest Stakes and third in the Rebel for trainer Mike Lauer. But his form went awry after returning to Kentucky when he ran ninth in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and 10th in the American Turf on Kentucky Derby eve at Churchill Downs.

MIAMI – Luis Saez, who won five races on Friday’s card and has dominated the local riding standings for the past three years, is planning on leaving south Florida at the conclusion of the 2013 Gulfstream Park meet to try his luck in New York next spring.

Gil Graell, the godfather of the Calder jockey agent colony, has handled Saez’s book for the past several years. He said he will be turning Saez’s engagements over to fellow agent Richard DePass when Gulfstream opens on Dec. 1.

ELMONT, N.Y. − Believing that Compliance Officer has been compromised by pedestrian paces in his last two starts, trainer Bruce Brown will give his champion New York-bred turf horse some help when he runs in next Saturday’s $175,000 Mohawk Handicap at Belmont Park.

Brown said he will enter the speedy Strong Impact to act as a pacesetter, or rabbit, for Compliance Officer in the Mohawk, one of seven stakes restricted to New York-breds to be run on New York Showcase Day.

Strong Impact and Compliance Officer are owned by Thomas La Marca.

Two weeks after Flame N Flash won the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Handicap against older fillies and mares, the 3-year-old Quarter Horse filly starts Sunday in the first of four trials to the Los Alamitos Super Derby.

The Super Derby trial will be a stern test for Flame N Flash. She faces the gelding Terrific Synergy, the winner of the Governor’s Cup Derby in July.

The quick turnaround from the Mildred Vessels Handicap is not a major concern for trainer Juan Aleman, he said on Friday.