Classic Ramona will attempt to win the $84,000 Richmond at Hoosier Park for the second consecutive year Saturday. A 5-year-old mare trained by David Paulus, Classic Ramona comes into the 1 1/16-mile event off a two-month layoff. The same pattern worked for Paulus in 2009 when Classic Ramona wired the field at 7-1.

ELMONT, N.Y. – “We’re ready now.”

Those were the words of trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. Thursday morning after Rail Trip worked six furlongs in 1:11.97 over Aqueduct’s main track in preparation for a start in the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Oct. 2.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Saturday card at Arlington Park is reminiscent of this entire meet: Short and green.

Arlington already has run a record number of turf races this meet, and the number of turf sprints carded here this summer also has risen to an all-time high. The two open allowance races on Saturday’s program, race 4 for first-level allowance horses and race 8 for second-level optional $40,000 claimers, both are carded for five furlongs on the grass.

Just as Well and Rahy’s Attorney, a pair of turf specialists with Grade 1 credentials at Woodbine on their r é sum é s, could have run at the top level again this weekend in Sunday’s Woodbine Mile. But instead, both will try to rebuild their confidence against slightly softer competition in Saturday’s $250,000 Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association President’s Cup at Parx Racing.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The unbeaten Roxy Gap will get her sternest test to date Saturday at Woodbine in the $250,000 Natalma Stakes, a one-mile grass event for 2-year-old fillies. As part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series Win and You’re In program, the winner of the Grade 3 race receives an automatic berth into the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf Nov. 5 at Churchill.

Roxy Gap won her debut with authority on the Polytrack July 3, and then doubled up in the restricted Shady Well Stakes, while earning her second straight 84 Beyer Speed Figure.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Pace. Trip. Course. Distance. None of it seems to matter to Check the Label, who has emerged as one of the top 3-year-old turf fillies in the country.

Saturday, Check the Label will seek her fourth consecutive graded stakes win when she returns to Belmont Park to meet seven rivals in the Grade 1, $250,00 Garden City Breeders’ Cup, run at 1 1/8 miles over the inner turf.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Usual Q.T., one of three California shippers, drew post 11 at a ceremonial draw for Sunday’s Woodbine Mile in the trackside tent here Thursday afternoon.

The Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile, a turf race for 3-year-olds and upward, attracted a field of 13, and The Usual Q.T. has been made the 3-1 morning-line favorite by Woodbine oddsmaker Ernie Perri.

The Woodbine Mile is a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In race, with the winner earning a free berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – At the Disco, the pacesetter in the Grade 3 Red Bank Stakes, returns to the New Jersey-bred ranks on Saturday in the Charles Hesse III Handicap at Monmouth Park.

The Hesse is one of four $100,000 stakes on the 12-race card devoted exclusively to horses bred in the Garden State.

It’s a day to showcase many of the leading statebred runners and draw attention to the New Jersey’s flagging breeding industry.

POMONA, Calif. – There was a fuss at Del Mar this summer when Cactus Jane won her debut in a $40,000 maiden claimer, despite one month without a published workout.

Several bettors were annoyed the filly ran well despite the absence of recent workouts. Cactus Jane won clear under Victor Espinoza, and returned $14.80 as trainer Adam Kitchingman celebrated his birthday with what some perceived as a betting coup.

In her brief racing career, the Maryland-based 2-year-old filly Twelve Pack Shelly has already won a $100,000 stakes, placed in a graded event for males, and set a Laurel Park track record. Despite her imposing credentials, Twelve Pack Shelly didn’t scare away the competition and will face a full field of nine others in Saturday night’s $100,000 Miss Shenandoah Stakes at Charles Town.