DEL MAR, Calif. – The Cup is coming to Del Mar.

Erik Johnson, the veteran defenseman of the Colorado Avalanche, has decided that Del Mar will play a significant part of his day with the Stanley Cup, an honor each player and coach is afforded during the summer after winning hockey’s top prize.

Johnson’s day is Saturday, when the Pacific Classic highlights a blockbuster day of racing here. Also on the card is the Del Mar Derby, a race in which Mackinnon, a colt Johnson co-owns and who is named for his teammate, center Nathan MacKinnon, is scheduled to compete.

Gerald Melancon, a journeyman rider with more than 5,000 wins, was arrested on Aug. 26 and faces a charge of “unnatural stimulation of horses” after allegedly being suspected of possessing a buzzer, according to The Paulick Report. 

Melancon, 55, was released on $20,000 bond, according to the website. He was arrested after stewards at Evangeline Downs reported their suspicions to the St. Landry Parish sheriff’s office. 

DEL MAR, Calif. – Express Train will make his first start in four months when he takes on Flightline and Country Grammer in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar, a schedule not by design, but by necessity.

Express Train was intended for the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 30, but dissatisfaction with the way Express Train was performing in the morning caused his trainer, John Shirreffs, to pass, even skipping a work that weekend.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Flightline, who on Saturday will attempt to stretch his perfect record to 5 for 5 while negotiating two turns and 1 1/4 miles for the first time, was installed the prohibitive 1-5 favorite against five opponents when the field was drawn late Tuesday afternoon for the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

Flightline drew well in the six-horse field, landing post 5, with his primary rivals, Country Grammer and Royal Ship, inside of him.

Multiple graded stakes winner Plainsman has been retired from racing and will stand at stud next season, owner John Ed Anthony said Tuesday. 

Plainsman is a 7-year-old son of Flatter who earned more than $1.4 million. He was the favorite in the $175,000 Governor’s Cup in his most recent start Aug. 19 at Remington Park and finished a distant sixth to winner Rated R Superstar.

“We were intending to retire him at the end of this year, but he told us he was tired of doing what he was doing,” Anthony said of Plainsman. “The last race there was uncharacteristic.” 

Rated R Superstar has limited stakes options on the horizon at the Remington Park meet after winning the season's richest race for older horses earlier this month in the $175,000 Governor’s Cup.

As such, he could make a rare appearance on the grass. 

“There’s a possibility that we go in the Remington Green,” said Danny Caldwell, who owns Rated R Superstar. “He hasn’t run on the grass in a while. There’s really not a lot for him at Remington for a while, so that’s a possibility.” 

Tyler’s Tribe, who owns three of the top Beyer Speed Figures among 2-year-olds in 2022, will have his final prep for the Breeders’ Cup at his home track of Prairie Meadows, trainer Tim Martin said Tuesday.  

Tyler’s Tribe is being pointed for the $100,000 Iowa Cradle, a six-furlong race for colts and geldings bred in Iowa. It is part of the Iowa Classics card Oct. 1. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Domestic Spending, the multiple Grade 1 winner who was scratched from last November’s Breeders’ Cup Turf with a suspensory issue, had his first work in exactly 10 months Monday, going three furlongs in 39.04 seconds over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga.

It was Domestic Spending’s first work since last Oct. 29 at Belmont Park when he had a final move before shipping to Southern California, where he was the favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, but scratched two days before the race due to a suspensory ligament issue.

Dandy Warhol will have a new rider, race at a new distance, and have a tougher assignment when he starts in Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf.

There are indications that the lightly raced Irish-bred gelding can adapt and be a factor in the $300,000 Del Mar Derby, the track’s top summertime race for 3-year-olds.

Flavien Prat, former leading rider in Southern California and now based in New York, will ride Dandy Warhol for the first time, replacing Umberto Rispoli, who rides top contender Balnikhov.

It’s that time of year again.

Time for horsemen and fans alike to revisit the unique aspects of a racetrack plunked down in the middle of nowhere, one providing a welcome respite from the day-to-day grind of American racing.

Time, especially, for jaw-drops and double-takes when a horseplayer sees the purses at Kentucky Downs, where the 2022 meet begins Thursday with a 10-race program comprised mostly of full fields.