SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The connections of Weyburn and Bourbonic both said Friday that their horses will not run in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes, which should leave the field at seven.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Bill Mott has finalized plans for several of his recent winners, including the 3-year-old Speaker’s Corner, who will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 25.

Speaker’s Corner came off a 10-month layoff to win a first-level allowance race by 5 1/4 lengths going seven furlongs on Aug. 14. Mott has been keen to stretch the horse out to 1 1/8 miles, something he will do against the likes of Hot Rod Charlie, First Captain, Weyburn, and perhaps Medina Spirit in the Pennsylvania Derby.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Knicks Go, the leader of the older male dirt division, will use the Grade 3, $400,000 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs on Oct. 2 as his prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar, trainer Brad Cox said Friday.

While Knicks Go is still in Saratoga, Cox said plans call for him to ship to Churchill when that track reopens its backside, expected to be right after Labor Day. The Lukas Classic is eight weeks from the Grade 1 Whitney, which Knicks Go won on Aug. 7, and five weeks from the Breeders’ Cup.

FanDuel, the parent company of horse racing broadcaster and account-wagering company TVG, will be the title sponsor at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., for the next three years under an agreement signed by the two companies in advance of the track’s meet this year.

FanDuel, which is among a number of companies in the United States jockeying to become a leader in sports betting, will receive title sponsorship for the Grade 3 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs, and the track’s signal will air exclusively on TVG through the three-year duration of the agreement, the companies said. 

Scott Wells, the Remington Park and Lone Star Park general manager who has held racetrack management positions at a variety of tracks throughout the Southwest and internationally for 31 years, will retire at the close of Remington’s meet this December, the owner of the tracks announced on Thursday.

Wells, a former trainer, has been the general manager at Remington since 2005 and the president and general manager of Lone Star Park since 2013. Both tracks are owned by Global Gaming Solutions, the commercial arm of the Chickasaw Nation.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Orlando Noda has been fined $5,000 by the New York stewards “for action detrimental to the best interest of racing,” according to a ruling put out Wednesday by the New York State Gaming Commission.

Neither the commission steward, Braulio Baeza Jr., nor Noda would comment on what the trainer did to incur the fine. However, multiple sources on Thursday told Daily Racing Form that Noda was seen being overly aggressive on a horse that he was exercising ontrack during a recent morning in Saratoga.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There’s been a change of plans for Got Stormy’s next start.

Yes, she will make her next start at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 11. But instead of running in the $600,000 Ladies Sprint, Got Stormy will take on males again in the $1 million Turf Sprint at six furlongs.

“She’s already won that,” trainer Mark Casse said. “We’re going to do something different.”

Got Stormy beat the males in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga, her second win in three years in that race.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Jorge Abreu, who won three races last Friday and the $120,000 Galway Stakes on Sunday, hopes to keep the good times rolling when he sends out Runaway Rumour in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Runaway Rumour, a New York-bred daughter of Flintshire, won her first three starts including the Wild Applause Stakes, before finishing fourth behind Technical Analysis in the Grade 3 Lake George.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Rob Atras isn’t necessarily looking for validation when he runs Coaching Club Oaks upset winner Maracuja in Saturday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga.

“You always want to win, but you never expect to win,” Atras said Wednesday. “If she can duplicate the effort and produce the same result great, if she runs a really great race and runs second, I’m still going to be happy and proud of her.”

Jess Savin Candy could be in position to make Quarter Horse racing history next month, but the first step comes Saturday at Ruidoso Downs.

Jess Savin Candy goes in trials for the $3 million All American Futurity. If he qualifies, he will advance to the Sept. 6 classic with a chance to become only the second horse to sweep the sport’s Triple Crown. Special Effort swept the series in 1981.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I’m trying to have as much fun with it as I can,” said John Stinebaugh, who will saddle Jess Savin Candy for Dutch Masters III.