SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Last summer, Bridgetown cruised to a 6 3/4-length victory in Saratoga’s grassy Troy Stakes. On Wednesday, Bridgetown had to work a lot harder to defend that title, ultimately emerging with a well deserved half-length victory over Perfect Officer in the 5 1/2-furlong Troy.

The Breeders’ Cup Championships on Nov. 2-3 will be the focus of the upcoming Santa Anita autumn meeting from Sept. 28 to Nov. 4, but the meeting includes 26 other stakes, with 13 of them renamed. Purse levels are largely comparable to 2011.

The most significant changes are new names for the traditional Breeders’ Cup prep races, and higher purses for some of the California Cup races. Gone are race names such as the Norfolk, Goodwood, and Yellow Ribbon. This year, they will be run as the FrontRunner Stakes, Awesome Again Stakes, and Rodeo Drive Stakes.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Gitchee Goomie and Hessonite will renew their rivalry when they top a field of seven New York-bred fillies and mares in Friday’s $150,000 Yaddo Stakes at Saratoga. Friday’s 10-race program has been dubbed “Fabulous Fillies” day with the entire card comprising races for fillies and mares.

Trainer Dino Condilenios thinks he has a horse good enough to contend in the Grade 3, $200,000 British Columbia Derby at Hastings Sept. 9. He just isn’t sure which one of the three he has entered in the Richmond Derby Trial this Friday will emerge as the top 3-year-old in his barn. Stratify, Double It, and Three Point Play have a lot to prove going into the mile and a sixteenth co-feature that drew seven horses and goes as the third race.

Before the Ruidoso Downs meet closes next month, champion Ochoa has a chance to become Quarter Horse racing’s all-time leading earner. The first step comes Friday, when he runs in trials for the track’s Grade 1, $2,234,539 All American Derby. If Ochoa qualifies for the Sept. 2 finale then goes on to win its first-place check of $938,506, he will surpass the earnings mark of $2.2 million held by Stolis Winner.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – If not for one untimely clunker, there seems little doubt that Marketing Mix would be a standout favorite Saturday in the Beverly D. at Arlington Park. But a head-scratching fourth-place finish in the Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile on the May 5 Kentucky Derby undercard stands out on her past performances, and not in a good way. Otherwise, the 4-year-old Ontario-bred filly has been a whirlwind of success, winning six times and finishing second in a Grade 1 race in her other seven turf tries.

DEL MAR, Calif. – With a stakes win over six furlongs on turf at Betfair Hollywood Park in June, Byrama is proven as a sprinter. What remains in question is how effective she can be around two turns.

In five starts at a mile or 1 1/8 miles, Byrama is winless, but has placed in three stakes. A 3-year-old British-bred filly, Byrama starts over a mile on turf in Friday’s $85,000 Sandy Blue Handicap for 3-year-olds at Del Mar.

[Complete coverage of racing at Del Mar: News, PPs, and video]

Golden Gate Fields general manager Joe Morris is only half joking when he refers to the 17-day race meeting that begins Friday as, “Our weekend meet.”

Race weeks will comprise three days, Friday through Sunday, with special programs on Labor Day Monday, Sept. 3, and Wednesday, Sept. 5, which is the closing day of the Del Mar meeting.

The Golden Gate Fields summer meet bridges the Northern California fair season, with racing still to come at Stockton and Fresno.

Like last year, the short meet will offer no stakes races, something Morris hopes to change.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Safety Zone ran a rare clunker last time in his second try off the claim, but the classy 8-year-old is certainly eligible to rebound in Friday’s Woodbine headliner, a second-level optional $62,500 claiming race over a mile and a sixteenth on Polytrack.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield had been planning to ship Simmard to Saratoga for Saturday’s Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational. But, in a very unfortunate and sudden turn of events, Simmard’s racing days have come to an end.

“He’d worked very well Monday morning,” said Attfield, who watched Simmard breeze five furlongs in 1:01. “But later on in the day we discovered that he’d fractured his sesamoid. It’s very bad news.”