SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Get Stormy swept the two major turf stakes for males, the Grade 2 Fourstardave and Bernard Baruch handicaps, during the 2010 Saratoga meeting. His chances to repeat that feat this summer were foiled by a minor tendon issue that popped up just days before the Fourstardave, but Get Stormy is healthy once again and will be heavily favored – despite carrying high weight of 122 pounds – to defend his title against 10 rivals in Friday’s nine-furlong Bernard Baruch.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The $85,000 CTT and TOC Handicap at Del Mar on Friday has been a late summer goal for First Settler since she finished fourth in the Grade 2 Sunset Handicap against males at Hollywood Park last month.

The California Thoroughbred Trainers and Thoroughbred Owners of California Handicap is run over 1 3/8 miles on turf, and is essentially the only chance that owner Chuck Winner and trainer Neil Drysdale have during the Del Mar meeting to showcase First Settler in a race that best suits her style.

“She just needs the distance,” Drysdale said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Bill Mott was both in the enviable and unenviable position of becoming the private trainer for the North America division of Juddmonte Farms in the wake of fellow trainer Bobby Frankel’s death in the fall of 2009.

Sure, any trainer would want to get his hands on the horses with the pedigrees that Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms produces. With those royally bred pedigrees comes a high level of expectations, and Frankel met them. During his tenure with Juddmonte, Frankel won 349 races, including 115 graded stakes.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Alex Gonzalez, who had his first two mounts here Aug. 18, has become the latest American-born rider to toss his hat into the ring at Woodbine.

The 19-year-old Gonzalez, who was born in New Jersey but raised in West Virginia, comes by his profession honestly as his both his father, Freddie Gonzalez Jr., and grandfather, Freddie Gonzalez, enjoyed careers in the saddles.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Greg Tracy, who began his career racing at bush tracks in Montana, is hoping for a chance to play in the big leagues with Claresmiezie. The 2-year-old filly has won her last two starts in stakes races at Hastings and Northlands Park by a combined margin of more than 23 lengths.

Tracy has sent Claresmiezie to Monmouth Park for the $100,000 Sorority on Sept, 5, and if she runs well he will point her to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – An earthquake gently rocked Monmouth Park on Tuesday. Hurricane Irene could lash the area over the weekend.

Welcome to the Jersey Shore, where racing fans will keep one eye on the Friday through Sunday cards, and the other on the storm track. Mother Nature will play a major role in how this weekend unfolds.

It kicks off Friday with a 12-race card topped by a $50,000 starter allowance for New Jersey-breds going six furlongs.

Trainer Ben Perkins Jr. sends out an uncoupled duo of Benny Or Local and The Hunk with contrasting styles.

OPELOUSAS, La. – For 30 years, jockey agent Tony Martin has been handling the business of some of the best riders from his native south Louisiana. The list is lengthy, as one would expect from this most fertile jockey nursery, but some riders have stood out more than others.

One of Martin’s most notable projects in recent years was the breakout of Joe Talamo’s career at Louisiana Downs and Fair Grounds prior to the young phenom’s big splash on the West Coast. While it is admittedly too early to tell just yet, Martin may have another star in the making in 16-year-old C.J. McMahon.

Green Alert and Sportive look like the main players in a $12,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds that will serve as Friday’s feature at Northlands Park. The six-furlong sprint drew nine horses, and which horse gets the better trip could go a long way in determining the final outcome.

Green Alert drew the rail and could have the advantage if he breaks alertly. Trained by Canadian Hall of Fame trainer Red Smith, Green Alert broke sharply from the inside post in his last start and had the lead at every call in winning a six-furlong race for $7,000 claimers.

Natalie Houle, 30, and Brendan Galvin, 45, have something in common. Both trainers recorded their first official victories over the opening weekend at Golden Gate Fields.

Houle got things going on opening day last Friday when Hey Maria rallied for a victory in a $6,250 claiming sprint at six furlongs.
Galvin’s initial victory came Sunday when Chattel House won a photo over Siberian Song in a $20,000 maiden claimer at one mile on the turf.

Cristobal Herrera rode both winners.

Live racing in Maryland, absent since Preakness Day on May 21, resumes Friday with the opening of historic Timonium at the Maryland State Fair.

Timonium, which held its first meet in 1887 and is now the lone fair east of the Mississippi River to conduct Thoroughbred racing, will conduct a seven-day meet spanning Friday through Sunday this weekend and Friday, Sept. 2 through Labor Day.