Opinions have been mixed on the quality of the 3-year-old male division this year, with the Triple Crown races being split three ways and no dominant horse yet to emerge. The same cannot be said of the 3-year-old fillies, however, where the depth of quality has been on display from the start of 2011.

DEL Mar, Calif. - The graded stakes winner Jaycito will undergo throat surgery in coming weeks after finishing fifth in an optional claimer at Del Mar on Saturday, his first start since March.

“He’ll go in for tie-back surgery,” Baffert said. The procedure will correct a breathing disorder.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Killer Graces, the winner of two stakes at Hollywood Park earlier this year, but only sixth in the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 5, will make her next start in the $250,000 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 4, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said.

Killer Graces was beaten 3 1/2 lengths by Mighty Caroline in the Sorrento, leaving Hollendorfer concerned that the filly does not like Del Mar’s Polytrack synthetic surface.

“She doesn’t like this one, at least,” Hollendorfer said. “That’s what I think it was.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Craig Lewis admits he is unsure what to expect when his recent claim Bolinas turns back in distance to five furlongs in an optional claimer on turf Thursday.

“Hopefully, it will work,” he said.

Lewis claimed Bolinas for $32,000 on Aug. 6, the day the 5-year-old gelding finished fourth in a one-mile turf race. Bolinas led to the final furlong and was beaten 1 1/2 lengths. The race was Bolinas’s final start for trainer John Sadler and only his fourth career start. He has two wins, including one on turf in early 2010.

Jockey Martin Garcia flew cross-country Monday in order to work a couple of horses that trainer Bob Baffert is pointing to upcoming stakes races. While the miserable weather and track conditions prompted Baffert to postpone Haskell winner Coil’s Tuesday workout, Garcia took Plum Pretty for an early morning spin around Saratoga’s sloppy main track.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – If a speed duel materializes in Thursday’s second race at Woodbine, the table could be set for Red Shot, who should be a square price in the five-furlong allowance for Ontario-sired nonwinners of two.

Red Shot has been an underachiever since he graduated at first asking in a quick five-furlong dash in June of 2010. He was well beaten in each of his three outings in the spring, including when he dropped to a $20,000 conditioned claimer, during which he flashed some early foot before fading over a track that hindered speed.

AUBURN, Wash. – While Noosa Beach commands most of the attention leading into Sunday’s Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs, another local horse, Winning Machine, has been going about his business, more or less under the radar. Some talented runners from California and Canada are shipping in to chase a share of the $200,000 purse, but Jeff Harwood, who owns Noosa Beach, says Winning Machine is the horse he fears more than any other.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Everyone who’s anyone in the New York-bred turf division signed up for Thursday’s $100,000 West Point Stakes, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf.

Straight Story survived a pace duel to win last year’s running at even money for Alan Goldberg. The defending titlist has his work cut out for him as he drops from graded stakes and breaks from post 9. Lubash and Writingonthewall – who is 4 for 4 on Saratoga turf – may also vie for the early lead.

Remington Park in Oklahoma City gave its facilities a makeover before the start of last year’s Thoroughbred meet. For the new season that opens Thursday night, the track has done the same for its stakes schedule. Remington has increased the purses for some of its key stakes, added new races, and repositioned others to make for a host of notable Friday-night features during the 67-date meet that runs through Dec. 10.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ever since Barbaro gave him the biggest victory of his career in the 2006 Kentucky Derby, trainer Michael Matz has been looking for the horse that could take him back to North America’s most prestigious horse race.