INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Mr. Commons and Little Mike are set in their ways.

Mr. Commons is a closer, reliant on a quick pace to help his chances in the stretch of one-mile turf races. Little Mike races from the front and is dangerous with that style.

They will play their customary roles when they meet for the first time in Saturday’s $300,000 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Betfair Hollywood Park. Mr. Commons, the expected favorite, will be seeking his first stakes win since the Grade 2 Arcadia Stakes at Santa Anita in February.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The conclusion was quick and to the point.

The sixth-place finish by The Factor in the $2 million Golden Shaheen Sprint in Dubai is best forgotten, trainer Bob Baffert said.

“The Dubai race is a throw-out,” Baffert said. “He was dull and flat.”

A repeat of that performance in Saturday’s $250,000 Triple Bend Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park is not expected.

“He’s doing well,” Baffert said.

OPELOUSAS, La. – Star Guitar is likely to be his usual odds-on self as he goes after his fourth Louisiana Legends Classic title at Evangeline Downs on Saturday night. The Classic is one of eight stakes races on the Legends program devoted exclusively to those horses bred in Louisiana.

[bc_video_id:255777:]LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Bashford Manor Stakes looks like a pretty cool race this year, although not in the literal sense. Seven of the eight 2-year-olds in the Saturday night feature at Churchill Downs were maiden winners in their last starts, while the other starter is a maiden trained by D. Wayne Lukas, a record five-time winner of the Bashford Manor.

[bc_video_id:255773:]OCEANPORT, N.J. – The Grade 3, $100,000 Eatontown Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park is a carbon copy of the Violet Stakes run here on Memorial Day.

It’s the same 1 1/16 miles on the turf for fillies and mares. The stakes grading and purse are identical.

Not surprisingly, the top three Violet finishers—Ruthenia, Pinch Pie, and Unbridled Humor—return for a rematch.

The major change from the Violet is the supporting cast, which sports several interesting new faces, topped by Heavenly Landing.

ALTOONA, Iowa – Successful Dan, who is ranked as the fifth-best older horse in the country by Daily Racing Form’s Mike Watchmaker. comes to Iowa from Kentucky for the Grade 3, $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap on Saturday night. The 1 1/8-mile Cornhusker has a field of six.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Nominations for Fort Erie’s Prince of Wales Stakes on July 15 are due Sunday, but one prominent name will be missing when they are made available next week – Strait of Dover, the impressive winner of last Sunday’s Queen’s Plate, will not be carrying on for the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.

Danny Vella, who trains Strait of Dover for the Canyon Farm of Wally and Terry Leong, suggested after the Queen’s Plate that the colt would skip the 1 3/16-mile Prince of Wales due to his lackluster previous experiences racing and training on the dirt.

The stakes schedule announced Thursday for the Fair Grounds 2012-2013 meet includes fewer races but many higher purses than in 2011-2012, the chief enhancement being a $100,000 upgrade to the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes, which will be worth a record $400,000 in 2013.

Trainer Michael Ferraro looks ready to continue his family’s long run of success in the Ontario County Stakes at Finger Lakes when he saddles the uncoupled entry of Sundae On Sunday and Fench Wine in the six-furlong sprint for New York-bred 3-year-olds.

Ferraro’s son, M. Anthony Ferraro, won the Ontario County five times, most recently with Turnpike Token the last time the race was contested in 2010.

ALTOONA, Iowa -- Wednesday afternoon’s arrival of 2011 champion 2-year-old colt Hansen marked the first time a former Eclipse Award winner had stepped foot on the grounds here at Prairie Meadows since Caressing in June 2002. Along with a dozen quality runners pointed to other Iowa Festival of Racing stakes, Hansen flew in to contest Saturday night’s Grade 3, 1 1/16-mile $250,000 Iowa Derby and, in the process, get his stellar career back on track.