SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Steve Asmussen may have unleashed the most impressive juvenile colt of the Saratoga meeting Saturday when Echo Again cruised to a 6 3/4-length debut victory in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race.

With Ricardo Santana Jr. filling in for an ill Joel Rosario, Echo Again broke sharp, made a 1 1/2-length lead after an opening quarter in 22.39 seconds which he maintained after a half-mile in 45.66. He began to widen around the far turn and continued to draw off while covering 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:15.89 and getting a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Six prospective starters for next Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes put in workouts on Saturday morning here, but it was one who didn’t make the worktab that drew the most attention.

Charge It, the 23-length winner of the Grade 3 Dwyer on July 2, was expected to work on Saturday at Saratoga. But the horse didn’t work and trainer Todd Pletcher played it close to the vest when discussing the 3-year-old colt. Pletcher said the horse was dealing with something but he wouldn’t elaborate and that he hoped to work the horse on Sunday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Prank, the ultra-impressive debut-winning 2-year-old filly, will likely be sidelined for the remainder of the year after suffering a hairline fracture of her left front pastern, trainer Todd Pletcher said Saturday.

Prank underwent surgery Friday in Saratoga to repair the injury, getting two screws placed into her left foreleg.

“The surgery went very smoothly, she should come back 100 percent,” Pletcher said.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Flightline was the first horse to work after the initial renovation break on Saturday at Del Mar, and two of his primary challengers in the Pacific Classic drilled moments later during a hectic, exciting start to the day here.

Flightline was brilliant as usual. Going solo under Juan Leyva, trainer John Sadler’s top assistant, Flightline was credited by clockers with a seven-furlong drill in 1:24, going from the five-furlong pole out to the six-furlong pole, and including a 24-second split from the quarter pole to the wire. He continued galloping out strongly.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Tyler Baze was forced to give up his Friday mounts at Del Mar after a pre-race test still had traces of a medication he was temporarily prescribed Monday, a situation that forced him to miss his mounts Thursday, too.

“Very frustrated,” his agent, Jack Carava, said of Baze, who was at the track and fully expecting to ride.

Baze was scheduled to return to action Thursday at Del Mar after taking last week off to attend to “personal matters.” Carava on Thursday said Baze had been temporarily prescribed a medication for high blood pressure.

A pair of sprint stakes with Breeders’ Cup implications are the focus next weekend at Del Mar – the seven-furlong, Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes on Aug. 27, and the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap for fillies and mares on Aug. 28.

Nominations were released this week for the $250,000 Pat O’Brien, a Win and You’re In for the BC Dirt Mile, and $150,000 Rancho Bernardo, a summer prep toward the BC Filly and Mare Sprint. Below are quick looks at Pat O’Brien and Rancho Bernardo nominations.

The undefeated colt Big City Lights and Forbidden Kingdom, the winner of two Grade 2 stakes earlier this year at Santa Anita, worked for upcoming stakes at Del Mar on Friday for trainer Richard Mandella.

She cost $240,000 as a yearling, has a millionaire half-sister, and is out of a dam who won two stakes.

Three Strands, a filly by Empire Maker, has several things in her favor in advance of her first start in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies at a mile on turf at Del Mar on Saturday. From trainer Richard Mandella’s perspective, Three Strands has talent, but has something to prove when she breaks from post 8 in a field of nine.

“She’s trains good, not great,” he said. “We’re hoping the turf brings out a little bit more in her.”

There is one blemish on Cairo Memories’ career turf record in California - a ninth by 2 3/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar last November.

There is one blemish on Cairo Memories’ 2022 turf record – a fifth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks at Belmont Park on July 9.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Mark Casse was at Woodbine early Friday morning, pacing around like an expectant father awaiting word from his team at Saratoga about his star 2-year-old filly Wonder Wheel and her final serious work in preparation for the Grade 1 Spinaway here Sept. 4.

As things turned out, the wait was worth it.