SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Brad Cox said he always felt “the longer the better” for his lightly raced 3-year-old filly Bonny South. And he’ll get his wish here Saturday, when the Grade 2 winner stretches out to 1 1/4 miles for the first time to take on Swiss Skydiver and five others in the Grade 1 Alabama.

Sharp Samurai is a five-time stakes winner on turf at distances ranging from a mile to 1 1/8 miles. At the age of 6, he could start in a stakes at a different distance, or even surface.

Trainer Mark Glatt said on Wednesday that the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on turf on Aug. 23 is under consideration for Sharp Samurai, along with two races on Aug. 22 – the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf and the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles on dirt.

Travel plans on Labor Day weekend could disrupt jockey Flavien Prat’s hopes to be leading rider or to break the record for most stakes wins at the Del Mar summer meeting.

Through Sunday, Prat was second in the jockeys’ standings with 21 wins, three fewer than leader Umberto Rispoli. They were followed in the first five by Juan Hernandez (15), Abel Cedillo (14), and Tiago Pereira (12).

Prat has won eight stakes at the meeting, which began on July 10 and concludes Sept. 7. The record of 13 stakes wins at a summer meeting was set in 2012 by Rafael Bejarano.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Ten years after Winter Memories won her debut at Saratoga, her fourth foal, Seasons, did the same, taking a 1 1/16-mile maiden special by a neck Sunday.

The victory did not come without drama. Seasons, under Jose Ortiz, was saving ground on the inside looking for room at the top of the lane. Room was lacking until the pacesetting Frankel at Ascot ducked in and crashed through the temporary rail in midstretch. Seasons then had more room than she needed, but appeared to get a little lost before holding off Ice Queen by a neck.

Trainer Ralph Nicks has won stakes races at Gulfstream Park each of the last three weekends, his most recent the $100,000 Not Surprising on Saturday with Givemetwenty.

Nicks on Aug. 1 sent out Breeze On By to win the $100,000 Dr. Fager division of the Florida Sire Stakes and on July 25 won an overnight stakes, the $60,000 Ana T., with Violent Times.

Givemetwenty earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 87 for his win in the Not Surprising. The mile turf race was for 3-year-olds, and the son of Declaration of War covered the two-turn distance in a quick 1:33.71.

The stakes schedule for the Keeneland fall meet was released Wednesday, with the repositioning of the Fayette Stakes to serve as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup, which will be held for the second time at the Lexington, Ky., track on Nov. 6-7.

Keeneland will run a 17-day meet from Oct. 2-24, with its most important stakes, as usual, being held early in the meet. Ten stakes will be run as Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In events during the first few days of the meet, including the Alcibiades, Shadwell Turf Mile, First Lady, Breeders’ Futurity, and Spinster, all Grade 1 races.

Three allowances and three maiden specials are among the offerings Friday at Ellis in western Kentucky, where another three-day weekend begins with a solid nine-race card.

A $45,000 second-level allowance (race 4) that drew seven fillies and mares going a mile on the main track is the nominal feature. The other allowances go as races 2 and 8, while the straight maiden races will run consecutively as races 5 through 7.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – By My Standards is scheduled to breeze this weekend at Churchill Downs in what will be his first work since a runner-up finish in the Aug. 1 Whitney at Saratoga.

Trainer Bret Calhoun said By My Standards “bounced back quickly” from the Grade 1 Whitney and is now being pointed to the Grade 2 Alysheba on the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill.

Max Player, the third-place finisher behind Tiz the Law in both the Belmont Stakes and Runhappy Travers Stakes, has been transferred from trainer Linda Rice to Steve Asmussen and will be pointed to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5, according to majority owner George Hall.

Hall, who owns the horse along with SportBLX Thoroughbreds – a racing syndicate that sells shares in a portfolio of horses led by Max Player – did not give a specific reason as to why he removed the horse from Rice’s care.

Colonial Downs-based jockey Trevor McCarthy has tested positive for COVID-19, leading Colonial to cancel its Tuesday and Wednesday racing programs, the track announced Tuesday.

McCarthy, who tops the Colonial jockey standings with 14 wins, took off his mounts Sunday and Monday after experiencing “flu-like symptoms” on Saturday night, according to his agent, Scott Silver. McCarthy attempted to get tested for COVID-19 on Monday, was unable to, went for testing on Tuesday, and returned a positive result.