GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – There have been a handful of 2-year-olds by the young stallion Gun Runner to have raced, and Steve Asmussen, who trained the Horse of the Year, had saddled two of the stallion’s winners through Tuesday.

Both were for Winchell Thoroughbreds, who in partnership raced the $15 million earner.

“The first crop of Gun Runner, they’re performing extremely well,” Asmussen said. “It’s been very exciting.”

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Karl Broberg has been North America’s leading trainer by wins six times. He’s picked up a swath of titles across the Southwest and into the Midwest. And, he hit a milestone of 4,000 training wins last week at Prairie Meadows.

But later this summer, Broberg will be charting some new territory.

“We’ve got 12 stalls for Saratoga,” he said. “We’re going to need a lot of luck.”

Mystic Guide, rated the best older dirt horse in the world off wins this year in the Razorback at Oaklawn and in the Dubai World Cup, which he won by almost four lengths, is thriving as he prepares to return to racing July 3 at Belmont in the $400,000 Suburban.

On June 13 at Fair Hill, Mystic Guide put in a strong five-furlong drill with a powerful gallop-out working in company with 3-year-old Proxy. The pair was timed in 1:00.20 with Mystic Guide cruising smoothly out close to another quarter-mile.

Yes, Mandaloun won the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes on June 12 at Monmouth Park, but his race might have raised more questions than it provided answers.

Mandaloun took a clear midstretch lead but had to hold on to win by a neck over Weyburn, whom he had passed with relative ease in upper stretch. Mandaloun ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.63, a raw time that yielded a Beyer Speed Figure of 92, down from the 103 the colt received finishing second in the Kentucky Derby as well as the 98 he got winning the Risen Star Stakes in February.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Estilo Talentoso has come a long way since finishing second debuting under a $16,000 claiming tag at Tampa Bay Downs in January 2020. Now getting her a long way – from Delaware Park to Gulfstream Park –in proper order is the key to whether Estilo Talentoso will run in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney Invitational on July 3 at Gulfstream Park.

United, the five-time stakes winner and runner-up in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita, worked a half-mile in 48.20 seconds at Santa Anita on Wednesday in his first major exercise since a last-place finish in the Grade 2 Charlies Whittingham Stakes at odds of 3-10 on May 29.

In the week following that race, United underwent a batteries of tests that revealed no abnormalities.

“We can’t find anything wrong with him,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “We’ve gone over him closely.”

Santa Anita is amending its admission policy beginning Friday to allow walk-up customers for the first time during the pandemic, track general manager Nate Newby said on Wednesday.

The California state government relaxed most pandemic restrictions for businesses on Tuesday, including greater capacity at sports stadiums. The Los Angeles Dodgers drew an announced crowd of more than 52,000 on Tuesday, compared to the limited capacity of approximately 15,000 in place in recent months.

Brickyard Ride, the winner of the Thor’s Echo for California-bred sprinters at Santa Anita on Saturday for his third stakes win of the year, will start in a Grade 1 race for the first time in the $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 31.

The Bing Crosby Stakes is run at six furlongs and is the top sprint of the Del Mar summer meeting. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 6.

“We’ll see if he’s good enough for the Breeders’ Cup and that’s a good place to find out,” trainer Craig Lewis said on Wednesday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As trainer Brad Cox plots a summer course for his standout 3-year-olds, Essential Quality has been in steady training at Churchill “with the random day off,” said Cox, since the gray colt returned here from his June 5 victory in the Belmont Stakes.

Essential Quality has the Travers on Aug. 28 as his main goal and “would run in the Jim Dandy [on July 31] in case we feel like he should run before then,” Cox said. “He’s doing just great.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Unlike his colleagues a few miles away at Churchill Downs, Mike Maker isn’t currently faced with the inconvenience of pulling up stakes for the summer. Maker long has made the Trackside training center his primary base in non-winter months, and his stable is therefore unaffected by the upcoming turf-course overhaul that will force evacuation of the Churchill barn area for nine weeks, starting July 5.