Illuminise won her first stakes in the $100,000 Harold C. Ramser Handicap at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting, and trainer Neil Drysdale does not expect it to be the filly’s last.

“This filly will get better,” Drysdale said.

Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Illuminise ($7.40) rallied from sixth. She finished a mile on turf in 1:34.62, outrunning pacesetter Diplomat Lady through the stretch to win by three-quarters of a length. Zoemeg, who was in traffic in the stretch, finished a neck back in third in the field of nine 3-year-old fillies.

Winning Tactics was having a solid summer campaign until Sept. 4, when he unseated jockey Alex Solis at the start of an allowance race at Del Mar. The incident left Solis with a minor injury and cost Winning Tactics an opportunity to win the third race of his career.

Solis resumed riding at the start of the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting in late September. In Wednesday's seventh race, Solis will be aboard for Winning Tactics's first start since Sept. 4.

The race is one that Winning Tactics can win.

Stakes winner First Cavalry fits beautifully in Wednesday's third race at Woodbine, a first-level allowance for 2-year-olds.

First Cavalry showed speed before fading to fifth in three consecutive maiden special weight events earlier in the meeting. He was shipped to trainer Martin Drexler's Assiniboia Downs barn in August to contest the $40,000 Winnipeg Futurity, in which he led throughout to score his first victory, beating two next-start winners in the process. First Cavalry finished six furlongs in 1:11.20 and earned a 76 Beyer Speed Figure.

The skills of jockey Julien Leparoux were on display again at Keeneland when the 24-year-old Frenchman was able to take the usually headstrong Kip Deville off the early pace, a tactic that paid off in victory in the $150,000 Bryan Station Stakes.

Pommes Frites showed a new dimension on Sunday, rallying from off the pace to win the Grade 3, $112,300 Athenia Handicap by three-quarters of length over Chaibia at Belmont Park.

Content to let the speedy Virden set the early pace, jockey Jose Santos let Pommes Frites sit second for the majority of the race before guiding Pommes Frites past her just outside the eighth pole en route to her fifth win from seven starts this year. The majority of those wins came when Pommes Frites was allowed to control the pace from the outset.

Jockey Russell Baze won a stakes at Fresno on Friday and Golden Gate Fields on Saturday, and said he's excited about both winners.

On Friday, 2-year-old Vicarino broke Two Out of Three's two-year-old Fresno track record, running six furlongs in 1:07.34, to win the Harvest Festival Futurity by 11 lengths.

"Once he got his feet under him, it was over," Baze said. "I really asked him for only an eighth of a mile, from the quarter pole to the eighth pole, then I was just gearing him down."

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Trainer Chris Block said Monday that no decision has been made on the Breeders' Cup status of Vacare, the 3-year-old filly who stayed unbeaten by winning the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on Saturday at Keeneland.

"We're going to evaluate her this week and hopefully have a decision by the end of the week," said Block. "She ran awfully hard, but obviously she ran awfully big, too."

SAN MATEO, Calif. - The 46-day fall meeting that begins Wednesday will provide a historic chapter for Bay Meadows, a track whose future still remains in doubt. As of Monday, Russell Baze was 46 victories from surpassing Laffit Pincay Jr.'s world record of 9,530 victories. At his current rate, Baze should be the world's leading rider by the time the meet ends on Dec. 18.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The European contingent checked in at Woodbine late Sunday afternoon with four runners slated for the Canadian International, one for the E.P. Taylor, and two for the Nearctic here at Woodbine on Sunday.

The Grade 1, $2 million Canadian International, a turf race for 3-year-olds and up, is expected to attract a field of 10, with Better Talk Now, a candidate for both the International and the Breeders' Cup Turf, still on the fence as of Monday morning.

The Europeans in the Canadian International are:

ARCADIA, Calif. - Bordonaro, the winner of the Grade 1 Ancient Title Breeders' Cup Stakes and two other stakes this year, is expected to be supplemented to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4, trainer Bill Spawr said over the weekend.

Spawr and owners Fred Carrillo and Daniel Cassella had hesitated to commit Bordonaro to the Sprint after the Ancient Title at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting, citing concerns about the four-week gap between races. But Spawr said the 5-year-old Bordonaro has trained well in the week since his win.