DEL MAR, Calif. – Even though it was a trip to forget, Bob Baffert returned from Dubai a changed man, and Game On Dude returned from Dubai a different horse.

Baffert suffered a heart attack there, and though it sounds like a made-for-television cliché, he’s taking things much easier than before that episode. Game On Dude ran poorly in the World Cup, but has come roaring back since then, with two victories, and has continued to train strongly in advance of the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 26.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – On the day that owner Ahmed Zayat finally came to terms with the fact his Haskell winner Paynter will not make the Travers Stakes – and officially declared him out of the race – three horses that figure to offer juicy odds in the Mid-Summer Derby put in workouts over Saratoga’s main track Monday morning.

Fair Grounds in New Orleans has given its 12-date Quarter Horse meet that opens Wednesday a fresh look. The season is starting three weeks earlier than normal, the track has reduced minimums on two popular wagers, and a special night card has been scheduled – a first for the Quarter Horse meet.

Fair Grounds, which races through Sept. 1, moved up its start date after conversations with horsemen, said Eric Halstrom, the track’s vice president and general manager for racing. Last year, the season started the second week of September.

Delta Downs in Vinton, La., has made purse enhancements to four of the stakes that support its Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot on Nov. 17 and named a race in January for champion Big Drama, part of a 32-race, $4.6 million stakes schedule announced Monday.

Delta’s Jackpot program of eight stakes, including the Grade 3, $500,000 Delta Downs Princess for 2-year-old fillies at a mile, will again be the richest card of the meet, which opens Oct. 19. The season runs 88 dates through March 23.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – One week ago, trainer Steve Asmussen brought his Breeders’ Cup-winning filly My Miss Aurelia back at Saratoga to successfully launch her 3-year-old campaign. On Wednesday, Asmussen will look for similar results when he sends out another of his 2011 Breeders’ Cup winners, Regally Ready, as one of the choices in the $100,000 Troy Stakes.

The eight-day Humboldt County Fair meet in Ferndale, Calif., begins Wednesday, with new competition for horses.

With Portland Meadows running a summer meet for the first time, claiming horses from the Northwest that might have made the trip to Ferndale now have a reason to stay home. But Humboldt County Fair manager Stuart Titus thinks Ferndale will be able to hold its own.

“We have a strong influx of about 50 horses from Boise,” he said.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar’s overall betting handle remains strong through the first four weeks of the meet, with a daily average of $11,552,952, a 3.1 percent increase over the average of $11,210,932 through the first 20 days of the meet last year.

On track, Del Mar’s daily average handle is $2,301,515, a healthy 10.6 percent increase from the average of $2,080,664 for the first 20 days last year.

One of the main reasons for the strong handle figures has to be field size, which this year is averaging 8.37 horses per race, compared to 8.2 for the same period last year.

Sweet Esteem has started 17 times and has managed to win just a single race. Nonetheless, she figures to be a handful when she runs in a first-level allowance race for fillies and mares at Northlands Park on Wednesday. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint drew six horses and goes as race 8 on a nine-race card that begins at 6 p.m. Mountain.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The lightly raced 3-year-old Canadian Navy might be poised to clear the first allowance condition on Wednesday night at Woodbine in the 1 1/16-mile feature.

Canadian Navy, a $105,000 yearling purchase by the popular sire Pulpit, closed strongly for second behind future stakes winner Incredicat when he debuted in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special Dec. 4.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It’s Gail didn’t make life easy, for either herself or her connections, here in Sunday’s $125,000 Eternal Search Stakes.

But after being reluctant to load, breaking a step slowly under Luis Contreras, racing wide, lugging in with a furlong to run, and surviving a lengthy inquiry, It’s Gail made her first trip to the stakes winner’s circle.