SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Rudy Rodriguez admitted he wasn’t surprised Bella Sofia was able to come out of the allowance ranks to win Saturday’s Grade 1 Test Stakes.  He did admit he was pleasantly surprised the way she did it, in dominant fashion, by 4 1/4 widening lengths over a field that included a trio of last-out graded stakes winners in a performance for which the still lightly raced 3-year-old filly received a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The first step in trainer Bill Mott’s plan to get War Like Goddess to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf went to perfection Saturday when the 4-year-old filly won the Grade 2 Glens Falls Handicap by 3 1/4 lengths.

The next step toward the Breeders’ Cup comes in the Grade 1, $600,000 Flower Bowl, to be run here Sept. 4.

War Like Goddess showed a powerful late turn of foot that carried her from 11 lengths back early on to a convincing victory in the Glens Falls without ever feeling the leather of Julien Leparoux’s whip.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When Knicks Go returns to the Breeders’ Cup this November, it won’t be to seek a repeat victory in the $1 million Dirt Mile.

Knicks Go, by virtue of his powerful 4 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, earned a shot at stretching out to 1 1/4 miles in the $6 million Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

“He deserves that, so that would be the target,” trainer Brad Cox said Sunday morning. “How we get there, I don’t know.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Steve Asmussen’s vision of becoming Thoroughbred racing’s all-time winningest trainer in North America became reality Saturday afternoon when Stellar Tap, a debuting 2-year-old colt by Tapit, cruised to a 5 1/4-length victory in Saratoga’s fifth race.

The win was the 9,446th of Asmussen’s career, moving him ahead of Dale Baird whose record of 9,445 has been the standard since 2007 when Baird died in a car crash.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Casa Creed, the Grade 1 Jaipur winner, was scratched out of Friday’s Grade 3 Troy Stakes and instead will be pointed to next Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave going a mile.

Lee Einsidler, part owner of Casa Creed, said he and trainer Bill Mott felt the horse was at a disadvantage breaking from post 12 in the Troy, a 5 1/2-furlong turf race.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Brian Lynch had hoped to run Gift List, winner of the Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs in spring, in Sunday’s Saratoga Oaks Invitational.

But the 3-year-old daughter of Bated Breath contracted a case of pneumonia earlier this summer and was taken out of training after she finished third in the Grade 3 Wonder Again at Belmont in May.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – What should have been a triumphant moment for Robert Falcone Jr. and his father turned tragic in a matter of seconds Thursday at Saratoga.

Butter Lou, a 2-year-old New York-bred colt trained by Falcone Jr. for his father, Robert, won a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race by three-quarters of a length Thursday. But just nearing the wire, Butter Lou stepped in a hole, according to his rider Luis Saez. Saez pulled the horse up shortly past the wire and jumped off.

Slew’s Tiz Whiz will appreciate the class relief when he runs in a first-level allowance race that carries a $30,000 claiming option at Emerald Downs on Sunday. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds drew six horses and goes as race 8 on a nine-race card that begins at 2:30 p.m. Pacific.

Medina Spirit, who tested positive for a medication banned on raceday after winning the Kentucky Derby on May 1, is settling into a pattern of workouts at Del Mar, and recording fast times.

Thursday, Medina Spirit worked five furlongs in 59.60 seconds, the quickest of 34 works at the distance. On July 29, Medina Spirit worked a half-mile in 49.80 seconds, his first workout since mid-June.

The undefeated 2-year-old filly At the Spa will have her graded stakes debut in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 5 after recording her second stakes win in Thursday’s $101,500 California Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Stakes.

At the Spa has won three starts, all at distances ranging from 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 furlongs, and deserves a chance in the $300,000 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs, according to trainer Jorge Periban.

“That way you know what you have,” Periban said. “She’s always shown me a lot of ability.”