SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Bob Baffert will not only have one of the major players, Liaison, in the Travers, he also figures to have a large say in the two Grade 1 races that precede the main event on Saturday’s 13-race card.

Baffert will send out Contested as the odds-on favorite in the $500,000 Test Stakes. He could also have one of the sleepers in the $500,000 King’s Bishop in Gun Boat, whose local debut in the Grade 2 Amsterdam virtually ended as soon as it began after he stumbled badly and went to his nose after the break.

AUBURN, Wash. – After his seventh-place finish Sunday in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile, when he failed to sustain a bold five-wide run on the turn, Gallant Son will transition to what trainer Frank Lucarelli hopes is a more suitable role as a turf sprint specialist when he makes his next start, likely at Santa Anita, this winter.

Marketing Mix, beaten just a head in the Beverly D. on Saturday at Arlington Park, came out of the race in terrific shape and could run next in the Grade  2 Canadian at Woodbine on Sept. 16 or the newly named Grade 1 Rodeo Drive (formerly the Yellow Ribbon) on Sept. 29 at Santa Anita, said trainer Tom Proctor.

"Then there's the turf race in the Breeders' Cup, but that's the last thing I'm going to worry about right now," he said.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Candy Ride had two starts in the summer of 2003 before he won the Grade 1 Pacific Classic. The 2003 running remains the only time that Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally has won Del Mar’s most lucrative race.

Candy Ride won two Group 1 races in Argentina before joining McAnally’s stable. He arrived in California with a reputation that he could be an important horse in the handicap division.

Nearly a decade later, a remarkably similar scenario is developing.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The 4-year-old colts Mr. Commons and Tale of a Champion meet for the first time in Sunday’s $200,000 Del Mar Mile on turf, a race that may determine how aggressively they will be campaigned this fall.

The colts will arrive at the start of the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on different career paths.

Mr. Commons has a dented reputation – a multiple stakes winner who has lost his last three starts. Tale of a Champion makes his graded stakes debut, and first start in California, after winning four of his first five starts at Calder.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On paper, Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Stakes looks like an intriguing matchup between Grade 1 winners Turbulent Descent and It’s Tricky.

On the track, it will look completely different.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The $85,000 California Thoroughbred Trainers and Thoroughbred Owners of California Handicap at Del Mar on Friday may be an ideal race for Let’s Go Cheyenne’s stakes debut.

A well-bred 4-year-old filly, Let’s Go Cheyenne has won twice in eight starts and will be making her first start at 1 3/8 miles on turf.

The distance will not be an issue, trainer Vladimir Cerin said.

“I’ve always thought the longer, the better,” Cerin said. “Here’s an opportunity.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Racing luck figures to play an important role in Saturday’s $150,000 Ontario Colleen, a one-mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies that attracted a bulky field of 12.

Trainer Reade Baker is hoping he gets a fair shake with Solid Appeal, a Kentucky-bred whom he trains for Jim and Susan Hill.

EDMONTON, Alberta – Devil in Disguise will be a heavy favorite when he leaves from post 7 in the Grade 3, $200,000 Canadian Derby at Northlands Park on Saturday. The post positions for the 83rd Canadian Derby were chosen at a brunch held at Northlands on Wednesday. The 1 3/8-mile race drew nine horses.

Trainer Dennis Terry wasn’t that concerned about which post was available when he had to make his decision for Devil in Disguise. Terry won the 1989 Canadian Derby with Havigotadealforu.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – One year after his breakout summer of 2011, trainer Al Cates is at it again.

A winner of 12 races out of just 48 starters a year ago, Cates has already matched that win total this season while sending out only 41 runners with a third of the current stand still to go. While he continues to be solid in the claiming game, Cates’s trademark has become his remarkable prowess in the 2-year-old ranks.