Premier Pegasus, the winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita in March, has been cleared to resume racetrack training after being given a five-month break for a hairline fracture of the cannon bone in his left foreleg.

Maria Ayala, the assistant trainer to Myung Kwon Cho, said Premier Pegasus will begin jogging soon for an expected comeback this winter.
Owned by Cho, Premier Pegasus was the morning-line favorite for the Santa Anita Derby in April when the injury was detected.

Crown of Thorns, second in the 2009 Ancient Title and 2009 BC Sprint, may start in next weekend's Ancient Title at Santa Anita, but is also being considered for the $150,000 Oak Tree Mile on turf the same day, trainer Richard Mandella said.

Plagued by injuries through his career, Crown of Thorns won the Grade 2 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap over 1 1/16 miles at Hollywood Park in May, but has lost his last two starts. He was third in the Pat O’Brien behind The Factor.

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Alaura Michele, winner of the P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga on Aug 31, heads a field of 10 entered in the Grade 3, $100,000 Miss Grillo for 2-year-old fillies Sunday at Belmont Park.

Alaura Michele is 2 for 2 on turf. She went gate to wire going six furlongs before showing the ability to rate when rallying from next-to-last to win the P.G. Johnson by 2 1/4 lengths.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Immediately following Currency Swap’s victory in the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga on Sept. 5, trainer Terri Pompay said it would be her wish to train her undefeated 2-year-old colt up to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Four weeks later, that remains Pompay’s plan and though Currency Swap is among the 29 nominees for next Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park, he will not be running. This even though the field will not include the sharp debut winner Fire On Ice, who is done for the year with a condylar fracture.

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ELMONT, N.Y. – Chad Brown won 22 races during the Saratoga meeting. Few were more impressive than Fantastic Song, who overcame a tough post and wide trip to win his debut by a head going 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Factor will have few rivals when he starts as a heavy favorite in the $250,000 Ancient Title Stakes for sprinters at Santa Anita next Saturday.

The impressive winner of the Grade 1 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 28 in his first start since April, The Factor is considered one of the top West Coast hopefuls for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.

A winner of 4 of 6 starts and $457,180, The Factor recovered from his win in the Pat O’Brien quickly, trainer Bob Baffert said on Friday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Georgie’s Angel, currently trained by Todd Pletcher, and Select Cat, formerly trained by Pletcher, head a field of five entered in the Grade 3, $100,000 Tempted for juvenile fillies.

Georgie’s Angel won her debut at Churchill, the Grade 3 Schuylerville on opening day at Saratoga, and comes off a fourth-place finish in the Spinaway.

“She got stuck in a tough spot down inside the whole way,” Pletcher said. “She wasn’t quite quick enough to make the lead and wasn’t quite slow enough to get cleared off and never got into a real comfort zone.”

MIAMI – The 94 day Calder meeting ended Friday and with it the jockey and trainer races that were, for all intents and purposes, over months earlier. The 45-day Tropical at Calder session began Saturday.

Luis Saez nearly lapped the field with 142 winners to defend the jockey title he won for the first time in 2010, riding nearly twice as many winners as runner-up Jose Alvarez, who had 77. Juan Leyva, a rising star during the second half of the meet, finished third with 73.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The memory of Acclamation’s win in the Grade 1 Eddie Read Stakes on turf at Del Mar in July was foremost on trainer Don Warren’s mind on Friday.

“I always get chills watching him come down the lane,” Warren recalled. “He looked like no horse in the country would have beaten him that day.”

Acclamation won the Read by 3 1/4 lengths, and followed with a hard-fought head win in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Del Mar’s Polytrack surface on Aug. 28. Those races represent the third and fourth wins of Acclamation’s current four-race winning streak.

ELMONT, N.Y. – She Digs Me goes for his fourth consecutive victory and third straight stakes score when he heads a contentious field set to run six furlongs in Sunday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Nashua Stakes for 2-year-olds at Belmont Park.

The Nashua, traditionally run as a one-turn mile at Aqueduct and a prep for the Remsen in late November, was moved to the Belmont meet along with the Grade 3 Tempted and shortened in distance. Those two stakes as well as the Miss Grillo and Pilgrim, 1 1/16-mile turf races for juvenile fillies and juvenile males, respectively, will be run Sunday.