SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When the connections of Questing entered her in a first-level allowance race on the dirt at Belmont Park on June 24, it was a career-saving race for the 3-year-old filly.

“She was close to going home,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “If she didn’t handle the dirt in that allowance race she probably would have been retired.”

Questing did indeed handle the dirt, winning the one-mile race by 3 3/4 lengths while earning a 105 Beyer Speed Figure. A month later, Questing won the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jimmy Toner’s search for his next big horse officially began Tuesday when his multiple Grade 1-winning mare Winter Memories left Saratoga, headed for retirement at Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Ky.

On Friday, Toner sends out the promising 3-year-old filly Moment in Dixie in the $100,000 Summer Guest Stakes at Saratoga. The Summer Guest, run at 1 1/8 miles, is for fillies who have yet to win a stakes – and who don’t want to leap into the deep end of the pool in Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama.

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.

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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.