SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Sovereign Default, who was scratched out of the Grade 2 Saratoga Special, blew out three furlongs in 36.55 seconds Tuesday morning over the main track in preparation for a start in the Grade 1 Hopeful on Monday. He galloped out a half-mile in 48.80 seconds.

Sovereign Default was a first-out winner at Belmont in July, winning a 5 1/2-furlong race in 1:03.79 and earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 94. Trainer Rick Violette said Sovereign Default was going through a growth spurt around the time of the Special and he wanted to give him more time.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Unrivaled Belle, second as the favorite in the Grade 1 Ruffian Invitational here on Aug. 1, will make her next start in the Grade 1 Beldame at Belmont Park on Oct. 2, trainer Bill Mott confirmed Tuesday.

Mott had been toying with the idea of cutting Unrivaled Belle back to a sprint distance to see if she would be a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Mott thought the Grade 1 Ballerina, run at seven furlongs here last Saturday, was too close to her last race, and doesn’t see any other sprint options on the schedule that fits his filly.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Jimmy Jerkens hopes to carry the momentum of his Grade 1 win with Afleet Express in last Saturday’s Travers into this Saturday, when he sends out Convocation in the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes against Quality Road.

Convocation is coming off a hard-fought second-level allowance win over Glenwood Canyon here on Aug. 4. Glenwood Canyon finished second in a similar spot on Monday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A year ago at this time, few people outside of upstate New York had ever heard of Tim Snyder, a broke horseman with no horses who was commuting over 100 miles roundtrip to make roughly $50 a day.

This summer at Saratoga, Snyder’s got people offering him six-figures for a horse, buying him lobsters at Siro’s, and wanting to tell his life story in books, television, and movies.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The racing office had a difficult time filling some stakes races at the Saratoga meet. The Riskaverse was not among them.

With 23 entries for the turf – and four more for the dirt – the Riskaverse, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on the inner turf, was split into two wildly competitive divisions and will be run as the fourth and ninth races on Thursday’s 10-race card. Each division of the Riskaverse will be worth $70,000 and will be limited to 10 starters.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Bob Baffert was in Saratoga on Saturday when Richard’s Kid won the Pacific Classic and El Brujo the Pat O’Brien, but he was back on the scene Tuesday morning, making plans for those horses and several others in his barn.

Baffert said Richard’s Kid, who won the Pacific Classic for the second straight year, would likely make his next start in the Goodwood Stakes, now scheduled to be run this year at Hollywood Park.

DEL MAR, Calif. - John Sadler was the leading trainer at Del Mar the past two seasons, and though he is a longshot to catch Doug O’Neill before the meet ends next Wednesday, Sadler has a chance to go out on a very high note with big chances in important stakes this weekend, most notably the unbeaten Twirling Candy in the Grade 2, $300,000 Del Mar Derby on Sunday.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Separate Forest is fast. Real fast. So fast that trainer Richard Mandella was concerned that trying to go six furlongs on Polytrack might be too challenging for her debut. So he set about trying to find a five-furlong turf sprint for maidens earlier this meet at Del Mar, and when it came up, he entered her.

The race did not fill.

So Mandella, having a horse sitting on ready, sent Separate Forest up north to Santa Rosa, not the usual method of operation for him. Even though the race was on dirt, the distance, 5 1/2 furlongs, was suitable.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – It is tough to separate the seven horses entered in a $25,000 claiming race that will serve as Thursday’s feature at Hastings. See Eye to Eye could end up being the lukewarm favorite in the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, which goes as race 7 on the eight-race card which begins at 6:40 p.m.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Mine That Bird, the 2009 Kentucky Derby winner, continues to work sharply in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodward Stakes, drilling five furlongs in 1:00.25 over the Oklahoma training track on Monday. Saratoga clockers caught his first three furlongs in 36.94 seconds and his last quarter in 23.31 under jockey Rajiv Maragh.

He worked in blinkers for the second straight week. He has trained in blinkers since finishing fifth in the Whitney.

“I loved the way he worked today,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said.