SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though he will still be the private trainer for George and Lori Hall, trainer Kelly Breen will be permitted to take on outside clients, both George Hall and Breen said this week.

The Halls and Breen teamed to win last year’s Belmont Stakes with Ruler On Ice and also have won stakes with Pants On Fire, West Side Bernie, Sweet Ducky, Bickersons, and Bold Union. Most recently, the Halls and Breen won the Grade 2 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga with Bern Identity, who is scheduled to make his next start in Monday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Hopeful Stakes.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Red Sun doesn’t come out often, but when he does, he usually makes the most of it. Now 6, the gelding has won five times in eight starts during a career that began way back in January 2009, but has been interrupted twice by layoffs of more than one year.

Red Sun returns to action Thursday at Del Mar, in the featured eighth race, and will be competing for the first time in 53 weeks. His trainer, Carla Gaines, cautions that he may be a work away from being completely fit, but Red Sun has a history of running well fresh, so he can fire despite the layoff.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Even though Joha was successful running in sprints, trainer Mike Maker always believed the horse’s true talent would come through when he got to run long.

Thursday, Joha gets that opportunity when he heads a full field in the Grade 2, $200,000 With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga. The With Anticipation, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles over the Mellon turf course, drew an overflow field of 13 plus three horses entered in case the race is moved to the main track. Despite rain here Tuesday morning, the forecast calls for dry conditions Thursday and beyond.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.– A little over a week ago, trainer Phil Gleaves was toying with the idea of running Csaba in the Travers. Instead, Gleaves has found a much more suitable spot for his top 3-year-old, Thursday’s $100,000 Equalize at one mile over Saratoga’s inner turf course.

While Csaba would had started as a 30-1 outsider in the Travers, he’s likely to find himself the second choice in the wagering for the Equalize behind only Finale, the favorite in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Finale, a two time stakes winner, will be making his 3-year-old debut on Thursday.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Richard Mandella has made his mark in the last 20 years with older horses who have won races throughout the world.

This weekend, a 2-year-old filly may carry his stable to its biggest win of the year.

Beholder starts in Saturday’s $300,000 Del Mar Debutante, a key prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.

Mandella has had success with 2-year-old fillies in the past – notably the 2003 division champion Halfbridled – but it is his greater success with older horses that put him in racing’s Hall of Fame in 2001.

An attractive renewal of the Grade 3 Washington Park Handicap is on tap for Saturday at Arlington Park in suburban Chicago, with Prayer for Relief, Pool Play, Mister Marti Gras, and Workin for Hops among the likely starters in the 1 1/8-mile Polytrack race.

Pool Play, who wasn’t even supposed to race at age 7 after a tendon injury was diagnosed following his 36-1 upset under Miguel Mena in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs in June 2011, is perhaps the most intriguing of this solid core of favorites in this 79th running of the $150,000 Washington Park.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine has applied to the Ontario Racing Commission for permission to eliminate 11 of the 13 remaining Thursday racing dates scheduled for the 2012 meeting, which concludes Dec. 16.

Thursday racing, which has been on hiatus since July 12, was scheduled to resume on Sept. 13. But, the Woodbine Entertainment Group now would prefer to conduct Thursday racing only during the last two weeks of the meeting when the entry box traditionally has been extremely busy.

Friday is the deadline for trainers to register for the 2012 Claiming Crown, which will be run Dec. 1 at Gulfstream Park. The registration, which costs $100, makes trainers eligible to nominate horses to the Claiming Crown before the Nov. 9 deadline. Supplemental nominations and entries will be taken on Nov. 28.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Dale Romans was still accepting congratulations for Dullahan's victory the previous evening in Del Mar's Pacific Classic when he sent out another of his stable stars, Shackleford, to work a half mile in 50.80 seconds over the main track shortly after 9 a.m. on Monday. Shackleford did appear to labor some through the final furlong and while galloping out into the turn.

A U.S. district court judge has granted a preliminary injunction to a Pennsylvania trainer that will prevent Penn National Race Course from enforcing an ejection order, according to court filings.