The $80,175,928 wagered from all sources was a record handle at the seven-day meet that ran from Sept. 1 through Wednesday at turf-only Kentucky Downs in south-central Kentucky. That figure is 8.2 percent higher than the former record of $74 million handled at a six-day meet in 2021.

Purse payouts amounted to more than $17.86 million, highest in the track’s 31-year history. Average field size was 10.6 horses per race, while favorites won at just a 21 percent clip (15 for 73).

OZONE PARK, N.Y. –  First Captain, third in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, could make his next start in the Grade 2, $350,000 Fayette Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 29, trainer Shug McGaughey said.

McGaughey said First Captain could use the Fayette as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Clark at Churchill Downs on Nov. 25.

McGaughey said First Captain would be nominated to the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward at Aqueduct on Oct. 1 just to give him that option should that race come up a light field. The presence of Life Is Good will likely limit the size of the Woodward field.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The setback that forced Yibir to miss the Sword Dancer at Saratoga will also force him to miss a repeat bid in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, trainer Charlie Appleby said Wednesday.

Appleby said Yibir has only recently resumed light training, but that he won’t “make it back in time for the Breeders’ Cup Turf.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Nations Pride is likely to wrap up his stay in North America Saturday when he takes on Classic Causeway and four others in the Grade 3, $1 million Jockey Club Derby Invitational on the turf at Aqueduct.

Nations Pride finished second to Classic Causeway in the Belmont Derby on July 9 and then flipped the script in the Saratoga Derby, beating Classic Causeway by 1 3/4 lengths. Saturday those two will meet the German-based Ardakan and three seemingly overmatched opponents in Daunt, The Grey Wizard and Wicked Fast in the 1 1/2-mile Jockey Club Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike had his first workout since finishing fourth in the Aug. 27 Travers at Saratoga when going five furlongs Tuesday in 1:02.40 at the Mercury training center of trainer Eric Reed.

“He skipped right across there,” said Reed. “He’s real fresh right now, doing really well. He came out of the Travers super good.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Damon’s Mound, one of the most promising 2-year-old colts in the eastern half of the U.S., will put his glitzy record on the line Saturday as a heavy favorite among a field of nine in the Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Michelle Lovell said Wednesday that Damon’s Mound “is doing super. He’s ready for his stretch-out.”

Ain’t Life Grand is being pointed for the $100,000 Iowa Breeders’ Derby next month at Prairie Meadows, trainer Kelly Von Hemel said Tuesday.

The 1 1/16-mile race is part of the Iowa Classic card Oct. 1. The program features seven stakes for Iowa-breds, with each worth $100,000.

All-sources handle reached $579.2 million at the 31-day summer meeting at Del Mar, which ended on Sunday, a figure that includes simulcasting during a brief period before the season began on July 22.

Handle rose 1.5 percent over the corresponding period in the summer of 2021, the track said in a statement.

Attendance for the 31-day season was 278,702, a 16.1 percent increase from 240,030 in 2021.

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Joel Rosario, the 2021 Eclipse champion jockey who last year set a Kentucky Downs single-meet record for wins (17) and mount earnings ($2.95 million), will sit out Sept. 18, 21, and 22 after being suspended for three days for a riding infraction that led to the disqualification of his mount, Happy Gal, from second to fifth in the sixth race Thursday.

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Kentucky-breds tend to dominate racing here and elsewhere in the United States, but it was horses bred in other jurisdictions that kept finding their way to the winner’s circle Saturday at Kentucky Downs, leading to a massive amount of bonus money left unclaimed.