ETOBICOKE, Ontario —Third time lucky?

Two sets of local owners, both dedicated players of the racing game, will be involved in the Queen’s Plate for the third time when the $1 million showpiece for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds is run over 1 1/4 miles here at Woodbine on Sunday.

Rocco d’Alimonte and Frank Annecchini, who own Head Honcho in partnership with their trainer, Catherine Day Phillips, will be looking for their first Queen’s Plate win when fielding their third Queen’s Plate entrant in as many years.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Four allowance races are sprinkled throughout Thursday’s nine-race card at Belmont Park, with the most intriguing one being the first-level optional claimer scheduled for six furlongs on the inner turf course.

Gantry and Higher Court are only coming off maiden wins and are the most lightly raced members of this field, but look very playable.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Dark Thunder and Safety Check were separated by a nose when they finished second and third in what was their career debut in May 2010 at Parx Racing. Their careers have gone similarly in the 13 months since then, and Wednesday the two cross paths again as the ones to beat in a six-furlong allowance feature at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. - J P’s Gusto, the 6 3/4-length winner of Saturday night’s $400,000 Red Legend Stakes at Charles Town, will be pointed to the Grade 1 King’s Bishop at Saratoga on Aug. 27, trainer Mike Hushion said Monday. Hushion said it has yet to be determined whether J P's Gusto would make a start in between in something like the Amsterdam at the Spa on Aug. 1.

The Red Legend was the first start J P's Gusto made for Hushion and first he made at seven furlongs since he won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last September.

Royal Delta, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes winner, will be forced to miss Saturday’s Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes due to a bruised foot, trainer Bill Mott confirmed Monday morning.

Mott said Royal Delta had missed about five days of training as of Monday and would be forced to miss a couple of more before being sent back to the track. Mott said Royal Delta will be pointed to the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga on July 23 followed by the Alabama on Aug. 20.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Sidney’s Candy, a graded stakes winner on three surfaces, could be headed back to the dirt, with the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on Aug. 6 being mentioned as a possible next start by his new connections.

“We’re looking at that as a possibility,’’ said Elliott Walden, the president and CEO of WinStar Farm, which purchased Sidney’s Candy privately from Jenny Craig earlier this month. “It’s undecided at this point, but it’s certainly an option.’’

Ponzi Scheme and Eighttofasttocatch, who posted identical career-best Beyer Speed Figures of 103 while winning stakes in their most recent starts on dirt, ship to Delaware Park for Wednesday’s $50,000 Joseph French Stakes at a mile and 70 yards on the main track.

Hollywood Hit comes south of the border from Canada to face seven other older colt and geldings in the $100,000 Karl Boyes Memorial at Presque Isle Downs on Wednesday evening.

INGLEWOOD, Calif – An injury and key defections at the top of California turf mile division may lead trainer Mike Machowsky to start Caracortado in the $250,000 Shoemaker Mile on July 2.

Ryehill Dreamer, the winner of the Grade 2 American Handicap last month, is sidelined with a tendon injury. Sidney’s Candy, the winner of five stakes in his career, was recently sold and shipped to the East Coast. The Usual Q.T., a two-time Grade 1 winner on turf, is expected to make his next start in the lesser $100,000 California Dreamin’ Handicap at Del Mar on July 24.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Sand Cove’s victory here in last Sunday’s Steady Growth boosted his career earnings to $1,039,732.

But, if there is a way to make a million the hard way, Sand Cove’s workmanlike victory in the $125,000 Steady Growth continued a case in point, as the Ontario-sired 6-year-old horse was making his 34th career start and winning his ninth stakes race for trainer Roger Attfield and owner Ralph Johnson.