LEXINGTON, Ky. – Five races have come and gone since Gio Ponti last found the winner’s circle. No one disputes the class nor desire of a 6-year-old who has knocked out nearly $5.7 million in earnings, but the question must be asked: Is Gio Ponti really as good as he once was?

“I think he is as solid as he has ever been,” said Christophe Clement, who trains Gio Ponti for the Castleton Lyons of Shane Ryan. “He runs the same kind of numbers as he always does. So for me, he seems to be as good, even if he has not won, which is just what we call a lack of racing luck.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – After Union Rags splashed his way to a 7 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special in mid-August, trainer Michael Matz had two choices: wheel the 2-year-old back in three weeks in the Grade 1 Hopeful or wait seven weeks and point to the Grade 1 Champagne.

Matz opted for the latter, figuring if he was going to have to run Union Rags back on relatively short rest, he’d rather do it for a race like the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile four weeks from now at Churchill Downs.

FORT ERIE, Ontario – In his present role as a jockey agent, Paul Souter finds that the miles he travels around the Fort Erie backstretch helps keep him in shape.

“It is a challenging business,” said Souter, 55, a retired jockey and former part-time trainer.

“You have to get around and make contacts for your riders. On many mornings the legwork can be considerable. Besides looking for horses to ride in upcoming races you have to be on your toes arranging workout times with various trainers as well as making sure that your riders are in the right barn at the right time.”

A national fund-raiser Saturday for Jacky Martin will come just days after the 56-year-old rider – paralyzed from the neck down – had his first physical therapy session.

The session was a notable milestone for Martin, who has spent the better part of the last five weeks in intensive care to address injuries sustained in a spill at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico on Sept. 2.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – There are no superstars in the Juddmonte Spinster Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland, but that might be missing the point. The Grade 1 fixture drew a fabulously well-matched field of 13 fillies and mares for its 56th running, with accomplished stakes runners such as Aruna, Tapitsfly, Embur’s Song, and Pachattack taking part.

ELMONT, N.Y. – My Miss Aurelia won the Grade 2 Adirondack on Aug. 14 at Saratoga, but she might have only been the second-best 2-year-old filly to race on that day’s card.

Two races earlier, Stopshoppingmaria galloped to a 9 3/4-length maiden win, running six furlongs in 1:09.87, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 101.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Blue Heart has seen action just once, scoring by a half-length in a six-furlong maiden race here at Woodbine on Aug. 20.

On Saturday, trainer Brian Lynch will be hoping that Blue Heart has what it takes to handle the step up and stretchout for the Mazarine, a 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-old fillies that offers a purse of $200,000.

“She’s a beautiful, big, strong type of filly,” said Lynch, who trains Blue Heart for California-based owners John and Jerry Amerman.

“She’s a joy to train. She’s done everything right.”

After discovering an apparent timer malfunction, Hoosier Park has adjusted the final time of the Schaefer Mile, a stakes race that was run on the Indiana Derby undercard on Oct. 1.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes proved an ideal prep for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last year when Dubai Majesty swept both races. Perhaps having noticed that, John Sadler is going out of his way in an attempt to follow an identical path with his standout filly, Switch, who has shipped in from Southern California and will go off Saturday as a solid favorite in the 31st running of the Grade 2, $200,000 TCA Stakes at Keeneland.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – When last seen in the spring, right here at Keeneland, Great Attack was a close third in the Shakertown, that meet’s biggest race for turf sprinters. Off for nearly six months since then, Great Attack returns Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Woodford Stakes, the biggest race of the fall meet for turf sprinters and this track’s major prep for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in four weeks.