Wasted Tears will be ridden by Julien Leparoux in the Grade 3, $150,000 Modesty at Arlington Park on July 9, said her trainer, Bart Evans. Leparoux was aboard the mare for the first time May 30, when she won the Grade 3, $200,000 Ouija Board Distaff at Lone Star.

Wasted Tears breezed for the Modesty on Thursday at Lone Star, going five furlongs in hand in 1:01.60. She was even throughout the move, which came on a fast track at about 6:15 a.m. Jockey Patrick Boxie was aboard Wasted Tears, who was to leave for Chicago on Friday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Both horses that Tom Amoss sent out to win the Bashford Manor Stakes have returned to Churchill Downs the following spring to run in the Kentucky Derby. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?

Well, kind of.

Lone Star Sky, the 2002 Bashford Manor winner for Amoss, finished ahead of just one opponent when 15th in the 2003 Derby, while Backtalk finished last of 20 in the 2010 Derby some 10 months after capturing the premier spring race at Churchill for 2-year-olds.

MIAMI – The Calder 2-year-old program, which has produced reigning Eclipse Award winners Awesome Feather, Big Drama, and Blind Luck, kicks into high gear on Saturday with the first two stakes races of the season, the $100,000 Frank Gomez Memorial and its filly counterpart, the $100,000 J J’sdream.

The Frank Gomez and J J’sdream will both be decided at 5 1/2 furlongs and serve as preps for the upcoming Florida Stallion Series, which begins on Aug. 6.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The presence of stakes winners Kick On, One Call, and J J’s Indy spice up Saturday’s featured allowance at Lone Star Park, with the three to meet at a mile and a sixteenth on turf. The race is part of a card that includes an appearance by Hint of Majic, a rare Palomino-colored Thoroughbred; the turf debut of If Ever, a half-brother to multiple Grade 2 winner Wasted Tears; and the career debut of Heckofahit, a half-brother to graded stakes-winning sprinter Hollywood Hit.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Courageous Cat makes his second career start in Southern California in Saturday’s $300,000 Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood Park. A performance anything near his first start on this circuit, back in fall 2009, will make the multiple stakes winner nearly impossible to beat.

BREEDERS' CUP CHALLENGE: Race schedule and past winners »

ELMONT, N.Y. – Convocation has run some winning races in graded stakes competition, but to date has yet to win such an event. Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Suburban at Belmont Park will be his latest – and perhaps best – chance to win a prestigious race.

OPELOUSAS, La. – Star Guitar will be going for his third straight Louisiana Showcase Classic Saturday night at Evangeline Downs when he heads an all-star cast of Louisiana-breds slated to go postward on Showcase Night. The 10-stakes program is limited exclusively to horses bred in the Bayou State and will offer purses of more than $1 million. First post time is set for 5:40 p.m. Central.

AUBURN, Wash. – The holiday weekend kicks into high gear Saturday at Emerald Downs with a nine-race card, and while there’s no stakes race on the program, the feature race offers all kinds of possibilities for handicappers. First post time is 2 p.m. Pacific.

INGLEWOOD, Calif.-Mike Smith walked from the racetrack to the jockeys’ room at Hollywood Park with his head down, talking to no one.

The stewards had just disqualified Amazombie from first to third in the Grade 3 Los Angeles Handicap on May 30, and Smith was in no mood to discuss the race.

“I thought he ran a great race,” Smith said of the Los Angeles Handicap. “It was unfortunate that he got taken down.

Trainer Butch Reid is well positioned in the two $75,000 stakes, both at seven furlongs, for 3-year-old Pennsylvania-breds on Saturday at Parx Racing.

Reid sends out Bibblesman, the 8-5 morning-line favorite, in the Peppy Addy. He has two strong contenders in the Caught in the Rain for fillies.

Bibblesman heads into the Peppy Addy in fine form, with two dominant wins and a neck loss in his last three outings, all on off tracks.