ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – There are 250,000 fewer reasons this year than last year for Awesome Gem to travel from Southern California to Chicago for the Hawthorne Gold Cup, and trainer Craig Dollase said Friday that Awesome Gem would stay home for the Goodwood Stakes rather than try to win the Hawthorne Gold Cup for the second year in a row.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Don Simington will be watching his back all afternoon Sunday during the final card of the Louisiana Downs meet. He is closing in on his third consecutive local riding title, but knows it will be a fight to the finish with second-leading rider Richard Eramia.

“We’ve got three days and I’m six in front, but I don’t feel comfortable yet,” Simington, 47, said during morning training hours Friday. “It’s been a great battle with Richard. I’ve caught him a couple of times, then he’s passed me.

Five defending champions are among the 180 pre-entries for next weekend’s Jim McKay Maryland Million at Laurel Park.

All Giving in the $100,000 Distaff, Roaring Lion in the $100,000 Sprint, Natural Seven in the $100,000 Sprint Turf, Talkin About Love in the $100,000 Ladies, and Serenadia in the $50,000 Distaff Starter Handicap are expected to attempt to repeat their success from last year in the 25th annual event for the offspring of Maryland sires on Saturday, Oct. 2.

ELMONT, N.Y. − By sundown next Saturday, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott should have a pretty good idea what kind of presence he will have in this year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

Belmont Park will host five Grade 1 races next Saturday, and it appears Mott will have at least one runner in each of them.

POMONA, Calif. – The barrage of winning chalk has continued at Fairplex Park, where post-time favorites won 54 of the first 112 Thoroughbred races (48 percent) through Thursday. The predictability of the races, combined with small fields, helped bettors nail the $1 win pick nine Thursday for the first time at the meet.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The $100,000 Flaming Page, an overnight stakes for fillies and mares, will be run for the seventh time here at Woodbine on Sunday. And, it’s quite possible that the winning trainer will be experiencing a sense of déjà vu as Roger Attfield, Michael Doyle, Mark Casse, and Mike Keogh have combined to account for five of the first six runnings of the Flaming Page and each will be represented in this year’s 10-horse field.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will ride the undefeated 3-year-old Twirling Candy for the first time in the $250,000 Goodwood Stakes at Hollywood Park next Saturday, replacing Joel Rosario, who rides in Pennsylvania that day.

Smith had the option of riding Richard’s Kid, winner of the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 28, in the Goodwood, but was asked by trainer John Sadler to ride Twirling Candy, who is owned by Jenny Craig.

“I approached him,” Sadler said.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Lookout Dubai and Outoftheclouds look like the main players in the $50,000 Ascot Graduation for 2-year-olds at Hastings on Sunday. All of the 11 horses entered will be stretching out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time.

The Ascot Graduation is one of three stakes supporting the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby. The nine-race card features full fields in most races and is easily the best card of the year at Hastings. Russell Baze adds a lot of luster to day with mounts in all four stakes.

MIAMI – The Calder grass course might be green from all the rain that has soaked the south Florida area this summer, but it has certainly not been greener for local trainers who have been frustrated trying to get their horses in on the turf here for much of the meet, especially during the past several weeks.

POMONA, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert can fill a gap in his résumé Sunday at Fairplex Park, where Spurrier and Red Door Drive are favored to give Baffert his first victory in the $75,000 Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap.

“Any time you can win a major stakes where they have a Ferris wheel is an honor,” Baffert said.

Any time the two best horses are coupled in the betting, they are difficult to oppose. The entry of Spurrier and Red Door Drive, owned by Arnold Zetcher, is 6-5 on the early line in the centerpiece race of the Los Angeles County Fair meet.