SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Entering Saturday's $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes, trainer Tony Dutrow was confident that A Little Warm would run as good as he possibly could in the Grade 2 race. He wasn't sure if it would be good enough to win.

It was.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Mike Smith made a successful return to Saratoga and helped his old pal Bill Mott win the Grade 1 Diana for the fourth time in the last six years when he guided Proviso to a hard-fought head decision over Shared Account in a blanket finish that saw two-time defending champion Forever Together finish just another nose farther back in third.

Pleasant Prince out-nodded Worldly in a frantic finish Saturday, taking the 76th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Ohio Derby at Thistledown by a nose.

Nearing the sixteenth pole, Capitol Appeal and Mykindacandy were still clinging desperately to the lead after dueling from the start of the 1 1/16-mile race. But both Pleasant Prince, between horses with Alex Solis aboard, and Worldly, farthest outside with Luis Gonzalez up, were full of run, and they surged to the front as a team. On the wire, Pleasant Prince had maybe three or four inches on Worldly.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Rose Catherine was a decisive winner Saturday in the $93,000 Mongo Queen Stakes for 3-year-old filly turf sprinters at Monmouth Park.
A daughter of Speightstown, Rose Catherine improved to a 4 for 4 in grass races ranging from 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 furlongs.
Spiteful Gypsy grabbed the early lead with Rose Catherine quickly moving up to challenge with Chris DeCarlo aboard. They briefly disputed the lead before Rose Catherine pulled clear on the turn.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Lottery players in New York are told all they need is a dollar and a dream. For owner/trainer Leon Blusiewicz, all he needs is a maiden winner and a dream.

On Saturday, Blusiewicz sent out the 3-year-old first-time starter Admiral Alex to a one-length victory in a 1 1/8-mile maiden race at Saratoga. Afterward, Blusiewicz said the colt would make his next start in the $1 million Travers Stakes here on Aug. 28.

“He’s a good horse, he’s an awful good horse,” Blusiewicz said. “Play high if you’re going to play.”

DEL MAR, Calif. – By dusk on Friday, trainer Carla Gaines was out of energy. She had won three races on the eight-race card that evening, including the $125,000 Cougar II Handicap with Temple City, and a night at home with friends sounded more appealing than a night out in Del Mar.

“We fixed a few cocktails and ordered pizza,” she said. And that is how stakes-winning trainers celebrate these days.

Sir Gusta, a locally based 3-year-old who dramatically improved in his seventh attempt to clear his nonwinners-of-two allowance condition, and Coach Fruscio, a 4-year-old Pennsylvania shipper making his first start for leading trainer Chris Englehart, are the prime contenders in the first of two allowance races on Tuesday’s card at Finger Lakes.

Race 3, a $17,000 allowance for horses which have never won three races, will be contested at a mile and 40 yards.

SARATOGA, N.Y.– Safe Trip had an unlucky trip when finishing third, slightly more than two lengths behind winner Discreetly Mine, in last month’s Jersey Shore Stakes at Monmouth Park. On Monday, trainer Eddie Kenneally is hoping Safe Trip will get a better trip when the pair square off again at Saratoga in the $150,000 Amsterdam, a 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds.

Charitable Man, a multiple graded stakes winner at 2 and 3, makes his return from almost a year layoff in a $43,000 allowance race Monday at Delaware Park. Charitable Man had been entered in Sunday’s Teddy Drone Stakes at Monmouth Park, but will scratch from that race.

Formerly trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Charitable Man will be making his first start for Tony Dutrow, who said he received the horse in mid-June.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – If trainer Troy Taylor is correct, Dyna Stroll is going to be one tough horse in the $50,000 Stellar’s Jay for 3-year-olds at Hastings on Monday. The Stellar’s Jay is one of the seven stakes races for B.C.-breds that make up the bulk of the 10-race B.C. Cup Day card. All seven stakes are worth $50,000, topped by the B.C. Cup Classic, which Spaghetti Mouse will attempt to win for the third time.