Watching your horse surrender a clear lead as the 1-5 favorite in her final prep for a $500,000 stakes isn't exactly a confidence builder, but trainer H. Graham Motion remains optimistic that the 3-year-old filly can make amends for that disappointing defeat when she runs in Saturday's Grade 2 Delaware Oaks at 1 1/16 miles.

The $5 million Grand Slam of Grass was not a motivating factor in trainer Todd Pletcher's decision to run English Channel in the Grade 3, $750,000 on Saturday, the biggest day of the year at Colonial Downs.

English Channel has already won the Colonial Turf Cup, the first of four races in the series. A victory in the Virginia Derby would move him halfway toward claiming the guaranteed $5 million in purse and bonus money for a sweep.

Trainer Todd Pletcher intends to be in Lake Tahoe this weekend to attend his brother-in-law's wedding. No one will fault Pletcher if he steps away from the reception for a few minutes to sneak in a quick phone call back East to find out the results of a couple of big horse races.

While Pletcher is away, his assistants will saddle heavy favorite English Channel in the Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs and Honey Ryder, the favorite for Saturday's $300,000 Robert G. Dick Memorial Breeders' Cup Handicap at Delaware Park.

Kitten's Joy is preparing for the Arlington Million and is taking a pass Saturday. So are Grade 1 winners Good Reward, Magistretti, and Meteor Storm. All of which means that Saturday's Grade 2 Bowling Green Handicap at Belmont Park is an opportunity for someone new to grab the spotlight, and Relaxed Gesture - based on his runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Manhattan last month - looks like he might be that someone.

Seven of the eight 3-year-olds in the field for Saturday's Grade 3 Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park have never won an open stakes. They will face a tall task defeating the race's lone stakes winner, Park Avenue Ball.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Surf Cat, the winner of the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park on July 9, will return in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 7 or the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 21, trainer Bruce Headley said Thursday.

Headley is debating whether to ship Surf Cat out of Southern California for the first time to start at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, or to stay home and try older horses for the first time in the Pacific Classic.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Bill Currin is convinced that Bashert will be helped by the presence of top 2-year-old What a Song in Saturday's $100,000 Hollywood Juvenile Championship at Hollywood Park.

Trainer Bob Baffert is convinced that What a Song would be better off in the six-furlong Juvenile Championship if Bashert were absent.

"I'd feel a lot better if he wasn't in there," Baffert said, referring to Bashert. "They're going to run really hard."

That is precisely what Currin wants for Bashert.

Canterbury Park is not the only track on Saturday showcasing former claiming horses. So, too, is Ellis Park. By coincidence, May Gator and Rue des Reves, both plucked from claiming races earlier in their careers, are among the favorites in Saturday's $100,000 HBPA Handicap.

The conditions of the HBPA suit both mares. They specialize in grass, and each has won at the race's mile distance.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Trainer Marvin Hayes said Forrest G. was hungry after his win in a division of the $135,000 Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity last month at Lone Star Park: Hungry for his dinner, and hungry for more distance.

The dinner was devoured long ago, and the distance, it comes on Saturday. Forrest G. will pick up an additional furlong in the $75,000 Middleground Breeders' Cup, a six-furlong race for 2-year-olds that will share a program with the $75,000 Silver Spur Breeders' Cup on what is the next-to-last day of the meet at Lone Star.

VALLEJO, Calif. - This is where it all began for Yerevan Star and where it might all begin for Mahalo.

made her stakes debut at the Solano County Fair last year, winning the Fairfield Stakes. She'll be the one that Mahalo has to beat Saturday as Mahalo makes her stakes debut in the $50,000 Vacaville Handicap for fillies and mares at six furlongs.

Since the Fairfield last year, Yerevan Star has added thirds in the Richmond and Woodside handicaps and a victory in the Camila Urso in her last start.