SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The rain that fell here Monday was an outlier for the last eight weeks and couldn’t dampen what was yet again a record-setting summer at Saratoga.

All-sources handle for the 40-day meet was $878,211,963, a 7.7 percent increase over last year’s previous record of $815,508,063. Ontrack handle, which includes money bet through NYRA Bets from New York residents, was $152,274,728, an increase of 10.5 percent over the 2021 figure of $137,765,882. Paid admissions, which counts season passes sold, was 1,075,586, up 2.7 percent from the 2021 figure.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Texas Wedge, a former $50,000 claimer who won two stakes and earned $484,615, has been retired, trainer Peter Miller said over the weekend.

The decision was made after the 7-year-old Texas Wedge finished last of eight in a $25,000 claimer on turf last Thursday at Del Mar.

“We’re going to call it a day,” Miller said. “He’s been good to us. He’s been with us for five years.”

Miller said the decision was made after Texas Wedge was found to have an entrapped epiglottis after his loss.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Paul and Zillah Reddam, among the most prominent owners and breeders in California, plan to significantly reduce their racing stable with a sale of more than 35 runners later this month in Pomona, Calif.

Paul Reddam said at Del Mar on Saturday that the couple has 74 horses in training, with additional stock at their Ocean Breeze Farm in Bonsall, Calif.

“We decided let’s take the bottom half and cull that,” Reddam said. “We have too many.

“There are a ton of yearlings and we’ll sell some of those, too.”

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Mike Maker, the all-time Kentucky Downs leader in every major training category, was reluctant to predict how his stable would fare before the Sept. 1 opener – but he’d be justified now in saying he expects a successful meet.

Maker won six of the first 17 races – three on Sept. 1 and three more Saturday – before Towhead lost a wicked head-bob in the Juvenile Fillies.

“We’ll try to keep it going,” he said.

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Kentucky Downs officials were bursting with pride when announcing earlier this year that two $1 million races would be run on the same card at its 2022 meet.

Imagine how they’re feeling now that not two – but five – $1 million events are expected to be run here Saturday, an unforeseen yet exciting expansion owing to unfolding events.

“They’ve really got it going on,” said Brad Cox, the two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer who will saddle Arklow for one of them, the Kentucky Turf Cup.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When Leave No Trace won Sunday’s Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes, it capped a terrific Saratoga meet for trainer Phil Serpe.

Serpe had won with 6 of 15 starters through Sunday – he had one more entered Monday – and won two stakes. He captured the Union Avenue Stakes for New York-bred fillies with Bank On Anna.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Stablemates Hong Kong Harry and Gold Phoenix won the most important races of their careers in Grade 2 turf stakes at Del Mar on Saturday, but will have divergent schedules this fall for trainer Phil D’Amato.

A trip to Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 5 beckons for Gold Phoenix, who won his first stakes in Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap for turf marathoners.

Hong Kong Harry, the winner of the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile, is not leaving California.

Economics are playing a major role in the decisions, D’Amato said Sunday.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The Generous Portion Stakes for California-bred 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar on Monday has a purse of $125,000.

Owner Michael Repole paid a $25,000 supplemental fee to make Uncontrollable eligible for the six-furlong race as well as the Golden State series, a lengthy list of stakes for statebreds at tracks statewide for the remainder of the filly’s career.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Katie Davis finished sixth in Friday’s fourth race at Saratoga, but she most certainly felt like a winner when she got off the filly Diva Banker.

The mount was the first for Davis since May 9, 2021, at Pimlico when she won a $16,000 claimer aboard Fairy Wish. 

“I was champing at the bit,” Davis said.

Juveniles take center stage closing weekend at Del Mar. Five of the six stakes Sept. 9-11 are for 2-year-olds including a pair of seven-furlong Grade 1s – the TVG Del Mar Debutante for fillies on Sept. 10, and Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 11.