ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Reade Baker also sent out the favored City Wolf in search of his fifth straight win here in this past Saturday’s $161,600 Autumn, only to watch the 4-year-old colt finish eighth of 10 under regular rider Emma-Jayne Wilson.

“I thought I had a better chance to win a stakes than at any time in my career,” said Baker, who trains the Kentucky homebred City Wolf for Stronach Stable.

“But the race ended up being a speed-rail race. He comes from behind and was stuck on the outside, and he seemed to fight Emma more this time than previously.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Any day now – maybe even Friday, his 46th birthday – Steve Asmussen will become just the fifth trainer in North American racing history to hit the 6,000-win milestone. Asmussen, who had 5,995 career victories at the end of action Sunday, was scheduled to run two horses Monday, none Tuesday, and seven Wednesday, including two at Churchill.

The late Dale Baird is the all-time leading trainer in wins, followed by Jack Van Berg, King Leatherbury, and Jerry Hollendorfer.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Wise Dan, winner of three rich stakes since the summer, will bypass the River City Handicap on Saturday in favor of the Nov. 25 Clark Handicap, trainer Charlie Lopresti said.

Wise Dan had been named the 122-pound highweight for the Grade 3, $100,000 River City, which goes at 1 1/8 miles on turf. The Grade 1, $500,000 Clark goes at the same distance on the main track. Other known prospects for the Clark at this early date include Flat Out, Ruler On Ice, and Mission Impazible.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For years, Calvin Borel has taken it easy in December, riding the occasional weekend while otherwise decompressing from 11 months of hard work.

This year, however, Borel will be taking just a little time off after the Churchill Downs fall meet, which ends Nov. 27, and will ride in south Florida at Gulfstream Park, where the meet opener is Dec. 3, exactly a month earlier than what had been tradition for many years. Borel’s agent, Jerry Hissam, told Churchill officials that Borel will begin riding at Gulfstream on Dec. 15.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It has been a while between drinks for Cool Bullet. Trainer Steve Margolis knows he was asking a lot of the 4-year-old gelding when he pitted him against the likes of Aikenite and Flashpoint last month in the Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes, a race that resulted in a respectable effort from Cool Bullet, albeit a ninth straight defeat.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Weekend Romance appears to have found a cozy spot Wednesday night at Woodbine in the $150,000 Jammed Lovely Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint that drew just five other Ontario-bred 3-year-old fillies.

Weekend Romance won her first three 2011 outings, all in Ontario-sired company, earning a Beyer Speed Figure in the low 80s on each occasion.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Tu Endie Wei had a bad experience suffering her first defeat in Keeneland’s Alcibiades, as she became agitated by a large and noisy crowd in the paddock and left her race in the starting gate. So her trainer, Reade Baker, took Tu Endie Wei back to school and the Kentucky-bred 2-year-old filly responded with a smashing victory under regular rider Jim McAleney in Sunday’s $152,100 Glorious Song Stakes.

Pack Your Bags won the $55,000 Lea County as the longest-priced horse in the field Sunday, when he overtook favorite Humble Smarty by 1 1/2 lengths  in the 5 1/2- furlong sprint at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M. It was another neck back in third to Lion Hall.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- On a beautiful afternoon at Hollywood Park, Charm the Maker took the scenic tour, racing wide throughout yet still going on to capture the $100,000 Sharp Cat Stakes in an ideal prep for the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet for 2-year-old fillies next month.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Inherit the Gold, who won five straight races at Aqueduct last winter and early spring, served notice he’s still a local force to be reckoned with, taking the Thunder Rumble division of Sunday’s New York Stallion Series by a hard-fought neck over second choice Pretty Boy Freud.