COLUMBUS, Neb. – Diamond Joe will go for his eighth consecutive win when he faces four 3-year-old Nebraska-bred rivals in the $15,000 Columbus Breeders’ Special on Sunday at Columbus’s Agricultural Park.

AUBURN, Wash. – While a start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile remains a possibility for Longacres Mile hero Taylor Said, the other nine participants in the Grade 3 race last Sunday at Emerald Downs will tackle less-ambitious projects when they return to competition this year or next.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Jeranimo makes his final start before the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 3 in Sunday’s $200,000 Del Mar Mile on turf. With a 10-week gap between races, the timing could not be better, trainer Mike Pender insists.

“His races are being spread apart now,” Pender said. “As he gets older, we’ve adjusted, reacting to him and letting him train us. He calls the shots at this stage.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario − Winless in seven starts last year in a hard-luck campaign, Grand Adventure returns for his first start since the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint when he runs in Sunday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Play the King Stakes.

A seven-furlong turf race, the Play the King attracted a competitive field of 11. Grand Adventure is listed at 12-1 in Woodbine oddsmaker Ernie Perri’s morning line.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In the past, Garry Simms might have said, “Sold.” But circumstances being what they are, Simms and his clients are holding tight to their pair of prized 2-year-olds with hopes of making a major splash next spring in the classic races at their hometown track of Churchill Downs.

FORT ERIE, Ontario – The Fort Erie backstretch consists of a number of small- to medium-sized outfits, one of which is headed by trainer Ken Albu, age 47, who has 14 horses in his barn.

Albu is a hands-on trainer and he, together with his wife Audrey and groom Todd Brown, handle every aspect of the training program.

“You have to economize and work as a team,” said Albu, “and the three of us entertain a busy schedule throughout the season, each doing his or her part to ensure success.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A task force that has produced a report examining a spike in catastrophic injuries suffered by horses running at Aqueduct earlier this year will meet with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s staff on Tuesday to present the report’s findings, according to two officials with knowledge of the plans.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The future of racing at Betfair Hollywood Park after the 2013 spring-summer meeting was cast in doubt on Thursday when track officials told the California Horse Racing Board that it would not commit to operating as a racetrack beyond July of next year.

Racing board officials asked Hollywood Park to make a commitment for a spring-summer meeting, from late April to mid-July, and a fall meeting, in November and December of 2013. Hollywood Park officials said they could not commit to the fall 2013 meeting that far in advance.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Royal Delta and It’s Tricky will steal the headlines for Sunday’s Grade  1, $600,000 Personal Ensign Invitational Handicap at Saratoga.

Brushed by a Star will try to steal the race.

Jackson Bend, who luckily escaped serious injury when run into by another horse, Little Nick, while galloping over the Oklahoma training track last Saturday morning, has resumed training and is still being considered as a possible starter for the Grade 1 Forego on Sept. 1.

Trainer Nick Zito said Jackson Bend returned to the track Wednesday after undergoing a battery of tests, all of which came back negative.