FRANKLIN, Ky. – With both of them perhaps showing signs of age, Arklow and Zulu Alpha will meet for a remarkable 11th time Saturday in the showcase race of the Kentucky Downs meet, the $1 million Calumet Turf Cup.

Their 10 prior common races have resulted in Arklow finishing ahead of Zulu Alpha five times, and vice-versa. In a rivalry dating to the Muniz Memorial at Fair Grounds in March 2018, the long-distance turf pros have combined for more than $5 million in earnings, with Arklow amassing more than $2.75 million and Zulu Alpha nearly $2.27 million.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – There are many reasons the CTHS yearling and mixed sale at Thunderbird Show Park in Langley, British Columbia, on Sept. 14 will be more successful than last year when 49 horses sold for a total of $639,600.

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Brad Cox was the leading trainer and Brian Hernandez Jr. was the leading jockey at the 31-day summer meet that ended Saturday at Ellis Park in western Kentucky.

With Jorgito Abrego serving as his on-site assistant while he summered at Saratoga, Cox was represented by 23 winners, nine more than runner-up Ian Wilkes. Cox, the 2020 Eclipse Award winner for outstanding trainer, also topped the standings at the Churchill spring meet.

Hernandez rode 28 winners, nine more than Florent Geroux. Calumet Farm was the leading owner with eight wins.

FRANKLIN, Ky. – The first winner Joe Sharp ever saddled came at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 10, 2014, when his future wife, Rosie Napravnik, booted home Holiday Drama to a 4 3/4-length score in a $15,000 claiming race.

Sharp has become a force in the seven years that have passed, with the huge opening-day performance of his stable demonstrating as much. With Napravnik and their two young sons on hand, Sharp saddled three winners and barely missed with a fourth Sunday.

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Pavel Matejka has won 60 races in a training career dating to 2005, with his two greatest wins coming in remarkably similar fashion.

Before Matejka saddled Accredit for a 36-1 upset of the $732,325 Dueling Grounds Derby on the opening-day card Sunday at Kentucky Downs, his biggest win had come nearly six years ago, when One Go All Go was a 35-1 winner of the $400,000, Grade 2 Commonwealth Derby at Laurel Park on Sept. 19, 2015.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - From becoming Thoroughbred racing’s all-time leading trainer by wins, to capturing four Grade 1 stakes and winning a personal-best 18 races at Saratoga, this will go down as one of the more memorable summers for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The 2-year-old colt Corniche has been grabbing attention since April, when he sold for $1.5 million at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales sprint auction of 2-year-olds in training as the most expensive hip of the Florida auction.

The attention has continued on the track.

Corniche won his debut in a maiden special weight race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar on Saturday in a manner that left Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith hoping the colt can start in races such as the Breeder’ Cup Juvenile here Nov. 5.

DEL MAR, Calif. - After four stakes wins on synthetic, dirt, and turf courses, None Above the Law will have a turf campaign this fall on the strength of his win in Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Derby.

None Above the Law has won four stakes this year at distances ranging from seven furlongs on dirt to the $254,000 Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles on turf.

In coming months, turf races at 1 1/8 miles for 3-year-olds such as the Grade 2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita on Oct. 31 and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 27 are planned, trainer Peter Miller said Sunday morning.

Happy Saver, the runner-up to Max Player in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, will train up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6, trainer Todd Pletcher told the New York Racing Association publicity department Sunday morning.

Pletcher felt Happy Saver was bottled up behind a slow pace in the Jockey Club, but that when he got out, he made a decent run to get second over Forza Di Oro.

Trainer Bill Mott found a potential stakes performer in his barn that he probably didn’t know he had when Baby Yoda won a first-level allowance race Saturday by 4 1/4 lengths, running 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.33 and earning a whopping 114 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest figure earned by any horse in training this year.