ELMONT, N.Y. – All in all, it wasn’t a bad two hours late Saturday afternoon for trainer Chad Brown.

In that span, Brown sandwiched a Grade 1 victory in the Manhattan Handicap by Desert Blanc in between fourth-place finishes by Hardened Wildcat in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens and Street Life in the $1 million Belmont Stakes.

While this year’s Manhattan won’t go down as the toughest field ever assembled for the 1 1/4-mile turf race, Desert Blanc put in a solid performance, splitting horses in midstretch and outfinishing Papaw Bodie to win by a nose.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – If you happen to be passing Candy Meadows Farm near Lexington, Ky., and see a powerful-looking bay horse deeply brooding in a paddock, that’s probably Caleb’s Posse. American’s toughest-luck horse of 2012 is getting some rest and relaxation at Candy Meadows Farm before gearing up for a second half of a racing season that probably will include starts at Saratoga and Santa Anita. His connections most certainly hope it goes somewhat differently than the first half.

Silver Max, one of the top turf 3-year-olds in the country, has not been headed in his last four starts and will likely employ a similar running style in Wednesday evening’s $200,000 Oliver Stakes at Indiana Downs. Twelve 3-year-old males were entered for the one-mile turf race, but Howe Great, third in the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill Downs in his last race, will not start.

Although Union Rags and I’ll Have Another were the stars of this year’s Triple Crown, both had unfulfilling experiences that will always have their connections, and many others, wondering what might have been.

For Union Rags, winner of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, his traffic-filled trip in the Kentucky Derby precluded any bid for a Triple Crown sweep, something his trainer, Michael Matz, thought he was fully capable of achieving.

Business figures for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes posted across-the-board gains as the race reaped the rewards of nearly three weeks of speculation over whether I’ll Have Another could win the Triple Crown.

A couple of lightly race raced 4-year-old fillies, Jazz Time Girl and La Pinot, look like the main players in a first-level allowance race for fillies and mares at Northlands Park Wednesday. The six-furlong feature drew a field of seven and goes as race 7 on an eight-race card that begins at 6 p.m. Pacific.

Jazz Time Girl could have a fitness edge over La Pinot, who is coming off a lengthy layoff.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Though the track was blessed with good weather for Belmont Stakes week, the rain that has been fairly constant this spring at Belmont Park was due to return.

If the weather prognosticators are correct, some or all of Wednesday’s five scheduled turf races at Belmont could be in jeopardy of being moved to the main track, including a $77,000 optional claimer that goes as the third. Through the first 32 days of the 54-day meet, 45 scheduled turf races have been moved to the dirt.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Expectations were high in Sunday’s Victoria Park Stakes for Prospective, who was coming off a troubled 16th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

After throwing a scare into his connections when stumbling at the start of the 1 1/8-mile Victoria Park, Prospective delivered as the 2-5 favorite with a 1 3/4-length score under regular rider Luis Contreras.

The West Virginia Racing Commission has scheduled a June 29 hearing to hear trainer Mark Wedig’s appeal of his ejection from Mountaineer Park.

Jeff Blaydes, a partner with the Charleston, W.Va., law firm Carbone and Blaydes, will preside over the public hearing, said West Virginia deputy attorney general Kelli Talbot, who represents the state’s racing commission. The hearing will take place at the Holiday Inn Express in Newell, W.Va.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The win machine Game Ball will compete with a selling price for the first time since last summer on Wednesday night at Woodbine, in a $50,000 claimer scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass.

Game Ball, a John Oxley homebred, romped over $7,500 opposition at Fort Erie last August. The closer went on to capture each of his next three starts there, all in marathon starter allowances on the dirt.