Three of the eight scheduled starters were scratched Saturday from the premier race of the Kentucky Downs meet, the Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup. One of those scratches, Rezif, actually won the race in 2010 over a yielding course, but trainer and co-owner Matthew Jacobson thought the 2012 renewal came up just a little too salty for his taste.

MIAMI, Fla. – Rose to Gold is the talk of South Florida after winning her first two career starts, both stakes, by a combined 26 1/2 lengths, but it may be a while before the rest of the country gets its opportunity to watch the pride of Calder in action.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Stormy Rush gets some noteworthy class relief in Wednesday’s fourth race at Woodbine, and he drew well on the outside in the second-level allowance with a $62,500-60,000 claiming option.

Stormy Rush, a 4-year-old trained by Roger Attfield, has competed strictly on the grass since notching an allowance on the Polytrack second time out at 2. In the fall of that campaign, he finished third in the Grade 3 Summer Stakes and was fourth in the Grade 3 Bourbon.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Winning the Woodbine Mile is far from a routine task, as evidenced by the fact that the Grade 1, $1 million turf race has established itself as a key prep for the Breeders’ Cup Mile. But Wise Dan made it look fairly easy here this past Sunday, cruising to a 3 1/4-length win to give trainer Charlie Lopresti his second straight victory in the Woodbine Mile following the success last year of Turallure.

The $30,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up that will serve as Wednesday’s feature at Northlands appears to be a wide-open event. Boomtown Brat is one of many possibilities in the six-furlong sprint that drew eight horses and goes as race 8 on a nine-race card that begins at 6  p.m. Mountain.

Russell Baze won four races Sunday to claim his 43rd career riding title at Golden Gate Fields as the 17-day meet ended.

Baze trailed Julien Couton 24-23 before the final day, but won the first race with odds-on Amorously ($2.40). He also won aboard Sir Al ($8), Xcuse Me Monto ($8.40), and favored Imperative ($6.20) to finish the meet with 27 victories.

Couton was winless on the final day, but had three seconds as well as a third with his five mounts.

For a little more than a month, the connections of Alternation have been debating the best route to get the horse to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and on Monday trainer Donnie Von Hemel said the Grade 2, $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup on Oct. 6 will be Alternation’s next race. The horse, who is based at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, also had been under consideration for the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 29.

POMONA, Calif. – Odds-on favorite Tree of Life made it a memorable weekend at Fairplex Park after all, for a celebratory West Point Thoroughbreds ownership group.

A day after West Point’s top filly Pure Indy finished fifth in the Barretts Debutante, the colt Tree of Life, also trained by Craig Dollase, delivered a solid victory Sunday in the $100,000 Barretts Juvenile for 2-year-old colts and geldings.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Heavily-favored Wise Dan won the $1 million Woodbine Mile in dominating fashion on Sunday, paying his way to the Breeders’ Cup in the process. 

With John Velazquez aboard, Wise Dan had a lovely stalking trip behind front-runners Worthadd and Artic Fern in the Grade 1 stakes. He split them late on the turn, and then drew away to prevail by 3 ¼ lengths, in 1:34.07 over the firm ground. 

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — The English raider Wigmore Hall captured the Grade 1, $504,000 Northern Dancer Turf for the second year in a row under Jamie Spencer at Woodbine on Sunday.

Wigmore Hall raced at the rear of the pack on the backstretch of the 1 1/2-mile marathon, as Celtic Conviction set honest fractions, while being pressed by the filly Irish Mission.