The Governor’s Cup Futurity for California-bred Quarter Horses has become a family affair in recent seasons at Los Alamitos.

Last Saturday, the half-brothers Constituent and Squid Word finished first and second in the $315,000 race at 350 yards. In 2019, the full brothers Pitbull and Lebowski finished first and ninth in the Governor’s Cup Futurity.

Full or half-siblings appear in the same race with some frequency in Quarter Horse racing, which permits registration of multiple foals out of a mare in the same year through embryo transfers.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mischevious Alex finished fourth to No Parole in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park on June 20. It took more than two weeks, but trainer John Servis may have found a reason for the poor performance.

A few days after Mischevious Alex had his first breeze back, Servis’s blacksmith cut out two bruises from the frogs, or the bottom of the horse’s front feet.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Channel Maker, who dead-heated for win in the 2018 Bowling Green, will take on a pair of runners from the barn of Mike Maker in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green Stakes at 1 3/8 miles at Saratoga.

Channel Maker, trained by Bill Mott, hasn’t won since taking the Grade 1 Man o’ War at Belmont in May 2019. He is coming out of a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Manhattan, beaten just one length by winner Instilled Regard.

The Grade 1 winner and millionaire Math Wizard is settled in at Saratoga and has a couple of options for his next start, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., said Wednesday. The horse is a candidate for that track’s Woodward, or the Charles Town Classic.

Math Wizard shipped from his Gulfstream Park base to Monmouth earlier this month and finished second in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup on July 18. For the effort he equaled his career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 99.

“He ran well,” Joseph said. “We could go to the Charles Town Classic. If not, we’ll stay at Saratoga for the Woodward.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After briefly flirting with the idea of a cross-country trip for Sunday’s Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, the connections of Point of Honor ultimately opted to stay home for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga.

That means a date with Midnight Bisou, the top older female in training who is coming off an 8 1/4 length victory in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 27 and who won the Personal Ensign here last summer.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Wesley Ward is taking some of his talented 2-year-olds to Europe in the weeks ahead, but not all of them. He is leaving two behind to run at Saratoga, Roderick and Outadore, both impressive debut winners.

Roderick, a son of Into Mischief, ran to his 2-5 backing, drawing away to an 8 1/4-length victory going five furlongs on the main track at Belmont Park on June 21. Outadore prompted the early running before pulling away through the final furlong over the grass here on Sunday. Breeze Easy LLC owns both Roderick and Outadore.

DEL MAR, Calif. – First it was an uncle who played the daily double every racing day. Then came visits to Santa Anita and Hollywood Park to see the likes of Buckpasser, Round Table, and Swaps. Before there was Sunday racing in California, family trips to Caliente in Tijuana, which raced on Sundays, were part of the rotation.

Lee Searing was introduced to racing at a young age. His interest took hold and never left, and over the years he has progressed from passionate fan to passionate owner.

Friday’s program at Del Mar is opening day of the summer meeting for a select group of people.

Owners with horses entered on the program will be allowed to attend races in California for the first time since mid-March, the Thoroughbred Owners of California announced in a statement on Tuesday.

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Hit the Road, the winner of the $103,500 Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar on July 10, will miss the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap on Aug. 9, but remains a candidate for the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 6.

Trainer Dan Blacker said on Wednesday that Hit the Road emerged from the Oceanside with a bruised foot that prevented full training in recent days.

“He needed to work last weekend,” Blacker said. “He won’t be ready to run in the La Jolla. We’ll give him a little more time to the Del Mar Derby.”

Dogtag, a 4-year-old stakes-winning filly on turf, will have her stakes debut on the main track in Sunday’s Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar.

Dogtag has won her last two starts, both on turf at Santa Anita – a second-level allowance race at a mile on May 16 and the Possibly Perfect Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on June 14. A winner of 4 of 9 starts, Dogtag was third in her only previous appearance on dirt in a seven-furlong maiden race at Saratoga in August 2018 when trained by Chad Brown.