Trainer Nick Zito has a healthy respect for Uncle Mo, last year’s 2-year-old champion, but he said neither he nor his mighty mouse of a colt Jackson Bend will be afraid to take him on in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Kelso Handicap.

“Uncle Mo is still Uncle Mo, he’s a terrific horse, but Jackson Bend is no slouch,’’ Zito said Friday from Saratoga. “Jackson doesn’t get intimidated.’’

Jackson Bend is coming off two dominant victories in one-turn races at Saratoga, and Zito hopes he has two more left – the Kelso and the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Ramon Dominguez has given trainer David Fawkes a two-race commitment aboard sprint champion Big Drama. Those two races are Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Vosburgh Invitational followed by the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.

Last year, Big Drama was ridden by Eibar Coa, who was injured earlier this year in a spill at Gulfstream Park. Daniel Centeno rode Big Drama in his 2 1/4-length victory in the Whippleton Stakes at Calder on Sept. 4.

Big Drama was scheduled to work at Calder on Saturday and ship to New York next week.

Emerald Beech, winner of four consecutive races, will step up into Grade 1 company when she runs against Beverly D. winner Stacelita in Saturday’s $500,000 Flower Bowl Invitational, trainer Jonathan Sheppard confirmed on Friday.

Emerald Beech, a 5-year-old daughter of Maria’s Mon, is coming off a convincing 1 1/2-length score in the Grade 3 Glens Falls Handicap in which she handled a very soft Saratoga turf course.

In an attempt to beat the rain, trainer Christophe Clement sent out his stakes-winning pair of Winchester and Grassy for an in-company workout Friday morning in preparation for next Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont Park.

Winchester, under Christophe Lorieul, broke off 1 1/2 lengths in front of Grassy and finished about a head in front at the wire. Winchester was credited with a five-furlong time of 1:02.46, while Grassy went in 1:02.19 under Jerry Fogarty.

Even before the defection of Tizway, owner Rick Porter said he was considering running his top older filly Havre de Grace in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Ultimately, Porter and trainer Larry Jones decided to stay in next Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Beldame Invitational against females.

Porter said he and Jones preferred the shorter distance of the Beldame, run at 1 1/8 miles, while hoping the race would be an easier spot to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup – whether it be the Classic against males or the Ladies’ Classic against females.

POMONA, Calif. – Quindici Man’s trainer, Craig Lewis, describes the veteran as a “blue-collar, working-class stakes horse.”

Norvsky is an unheralded California-bred racing this year in the shadow of a celebrated stablemate, Acclamation.

Quindici Man and Norvsky each has a score to settle Sunday at Fairplex Park in the signature race of the Los Angeles County Fair – the $75,000 Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap at 1 1/8 miles.

AUBURN, Wash. − Jockey Leonel Camacho-Flores, whose rapid development was one of the top storylines at Emerald Downs in 2011, will test the waters in Northern California this winter.

A 27-year-old native of Zacatecas, Mexico, Camacho-Flores will head to Golden Gate Fields, where his mounts will be booked by Vito Lucarelli, the agent for Leslie Mawing, Emerald’s leading rider.

Camacho-Flores began the week with 42 victories, good for eighth in the standings. He won the John and Kitty Fletcher Stakes aboard E Z Kitty last Sunday, his first Emerald Downs stakes win.

The trainer-jockey team of Morris Nicks and Richard Eramia have dominated the standings this meet at Louisiana Downs, and when the season ends Sunday both will have achieved significant career firsts. Nicks, the 64-year-old horseman who opened a public stable in 1967, will pick up his first-ever training title. Eramia, a five-time champion jockey in his native Uruguay, will earn his first North American title, a feat the 32-year-old has been striving for since 2005.

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ELMONT, N.Y. – In Sunday’s $100,000 John Hettinger Stakes at Belmont Park, the 3-year-old filly Hessonite will be taking on older fillies and mares going a distance she has yet to try on a turf course that figures to have been softened significantly by Mother Nature.

AUBURN, Wash. – Emerald Downs will turn the final page on its 82-day meeting Sunday when it presents an 11-race card, highlighted by the $65,000 Gottstein Futurity, the Northwest’s traditional championship for 2-year-olds. Only five horses were entered in the Gottstein, and two of the leading contenders are fillies.