SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is trying to decide whether to keep Charitable Man racing with the upper echelon of the 3-year-old division or search for easier company. On Thursday, the horse had his say by working a sharp half-mile in 47.88 seconds over Saratoga's main track.

The move, Charitable Man's first since his third-place finish as the favorite in the Jim Dandy here on Aug. 1, was the fastest of 26 works at the distance.

"He worked great," said McLaughlin, who was actually expecting a little slower time.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There's a part of Linda Rice that wouldn't mind seeing the Saratoga meet end right now.

Rice won two races Thursday, capped by Mother Russia's neck victory over Es Mia in the $150,000 Statue of Liberty Division of the New York Stallion Series for 3-year-old fillies, to put her on top of the trainer standings, 9-8, over Todd Pletcher.

"I'd like to stop right here," Rice said.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Thorn Song, the winner of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood Park in May, has been sidelined by severe abscesses in his front feet and is no longer considered a candidate for the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 7, trainer Mike Mitchell said.

Mitchell said that Thorn Song was sent earlier this month to the Alamo Pintado Equine Clinic in Los Olivos, Calif., for observation because of the abscesses.

"He couldn't put any weight on it," Mitchell said. "He was so uncomfortable I sent him up there. It was a nasty abscess."

Monmouth Park will initiate new policies on whips and toe grabs starting Wednesday, the track announced Thursday.

The new crops, mandatory at Del Mar since Wednesday, replace the old stiff leather whips that sometimes inflicted welts and cuts. The newer whips are made of softer or padded material and emit a popping sound, designed to motivate the horse to run from the whip, rather than from the pain of physical punishment.

Monmouth riders have been experimenting with the new whips in the day's last race since July 8.

MIAMI - The last time Possetothemax, Midnight Ridge, and Duke's Flying Tiger met, they were racing for a $105,000 purse in the Calder Turf Sprint Handicap. On Saturday, the same trio gathers again for decidedly less prize money, a mere $19,500 (including Florida Owners Awards), to be exact, under starter allowance conditions going five furlongs on the turf at Calder.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Smart Surprise has been the queen of the castle when it comes to older fillies mares on Polytrack at Woodbine this year.

But there will be a new princess in the mix here Saturday as Ginger Brew, who was Canada's champion 3-year-old filly last season, will be returning to the synthetic surface in the 1 1/8-mile Belle Mahone.

Finally, Tres Passes has found a race for his 3-year-old debut.

The leading 2-year-old at Los Alamitos last autumn, Tres Passes starts in the second of two divisions of the Golden State Derby trials at Los Alamitos on Saturday. Trainer Blane Schvaneveldt wanted to get Tres Passes a prep race in an allowance or minor stakes in July but suitable races failed to fill.

"I've waited long enough," Schvaneveldt said on Wednesday. "I couldn't get him a run."

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Canterbury Park remembers a popular alumnus Saturday with the third running of the $25,000 Kenny Schoepf Stakes for Minnesota-bred colts and geldings. Schoepf, a fixture in the racing office here and an all-around problem solver in addition to his duties as the horse identifier, died in 2006.

Scorewithcater heads what is shaping up to be a strong field in the Grade 3, $300,000 Canadian Derby at Northlands Park next Saturday. Nominations closed on Wednesday with 19 horses on the list. A full field of 12 is expected to start.

Magna Entertainment Corp., the bankrupt racetrack owner and operator, has identified a company owned by the Chickasaw Nation, an Oklahoma Native American tribe, as the leading bidder for its Remington Park in Oklahoma City, according to documents the company filed in bankruptcy court.