DEL MAR, Calif. – Maximum Security will be favored in the Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar, a race to which trainer Bob Baffert also nominated two other top older horses in his care, Improbable and McKinzie. While both those horses are passing the race, they worked in recent days at Del Mar, and plans are being finalized for their next starts.

McKinzie was given an official time of 1:00.40 for five furlongs on Sunday morning for a drill that included an extensive gallop-out. He most recently was fifth on July 4 at Belmont Park in the Met Mile after losing two shoes.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Jockeys Manny Franco, Javier Castellano, and Tyler Gaffalione have dropped appeals of three-day suspensions handed them by the stewards at this meet and will serve their days over the next two weeks.

Franco, the rider of leading Kentucky Derby contender Tiz the Law, will miss Wednesday through Friday. Franco was suspended for his ride on Price Talk in the second race here on July 16, which resulted in a disqualification of that horse from first to fourth.

Trainer Frank Lucarelli was in a celebratory mood Sunday evening. And why not? After all, he won both stakes at Emerald Downs on Thursday and was thrilled with how Elliott Bay and Killarney Lass came out of their respective races.

Elliott Bay looked like he had no chance of catching Papa’s Golden Boy in midstretch in the $40,000 Mount Rainier Stakes. However, a combination of Elliott Bay closing with determination and Papa’s Golden Boy tiring after setting wicked fractions resulted in a half-length victory for Elliott Bay in the 6 1/2-furlong dash.

Trainer Peter Miller was fined $750 by Del Mar stewards on Sunday for failing to report that None Above the Law was a gelding when the 2-year-old had his career debut July 2 at Los Alamitos.

Trainers are required to report if a horse is racing as a gelding, even first-time starters. None Above the Law won a $50,000 claimer for California-bred maidens on July 2 and was later fourth in the Graduation Stakes for statebreds on Aug. 2 at Del Mar.

The cancellation of the Turf Paradise meeting in Phoenix this winter could lead to a small increase of runners in California, according to officials at California tracks and a leading trainer from Arizona.

Last week, Turf Paradise announced it would not run its typical meeting from October to May because of the coronavirus pandemic. The track canceled the final weeks of its 2019-20 meeting because of the pandemic. The season was scheduled through May 2, but ended in March.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Leading rider Rafael Hernandez had quite an eventful last week at Woodbine.

On Thursday, he breezed the unbeaten Kentucky Derby prospect Shirl’s Speight five-eighths in a sizzling :57 on the training track for trainer Roger Attfield. The spectacular work generated lots of interest after it was posted on Twitter by Woodbine’s television department.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The champion Midnight Bisou returned to the worktab Sunday morning at Saratoga, breezing a half-mile in 50.80 seconds over the Oklahoma training track as she prepares for a fall campaign that will begin with the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 4, her connections said.

Midnight Bisou, coming off a controversial neck loss to Vexatious in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes here Aug. 1, went her opening quarter in 25.84 seconds and her second quarter in 24.96.

Forest Caraway, the winner of a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar on Saturday, is one of several juveniles trainer Peter Miller plans to run in stakes on Labor Day weekend.

Forest Caraway is a candidate for the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante, a $250,000 race at seven furlongs on Sept. 6. By Bodemeister, Forest Caraway was purchased for $70,000 as a weanling at Keeneland in 2018.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Pneumatic, the relatively easy winner of Saturday’s $150,000 Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park, will be pointed to the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on Oct. 3, his connections said Sunday.

Though Pneumatic would have enough points to get into the Kentucky Derby field on Sept. 5, his connections believe the seven weeks to the Preakness is a better fit for the large son of Uncle Mo.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Swiss Skydiver gave trainer Ken McPeek his second victory in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Alabama in the last three years Saturday, and now the four-time graded stakes-winning 3-year-old filly will try to give McPeek his first victory in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs.

McPeek, a Kentucky native, is winless in nine runnings of the Oaks, having finished second in 2002 with Take Charge Lady and second in 2017 with Daddy’s Lil Darling. He’s also run fourth three times.