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.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Lorne Richards became the 100th different trainer to win a race at the pandemic-shortened Woodbine meet when he sent out Hell N Wild to win last Sunday’s featured second-level optional claimer.

Richards will have bigger fish to fry Saturday when he sends out the fleet-of-foot British Columbia-bred Infinite Patience in the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks.

Denny Velazquez, a leading rider at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, has been issued a one-year suspension and a $10,000 fine for possessing an electrical device that can be used to shock horses, the maximum penalty that stewards could levy under Minnesota racing rules.

Bodenheimer, an impressive debut winner July 29 at Canterbury Park, will make his next start Sept. 5 in the Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Valorie Lund had either the one-mile Iroquois or the six-furlong Prairie Gold Juvenile at Prairie Meadows in mind for Bodenhemier, and opted this week for the longer, stronger spot.

There were times earlier this year when Larry Rivelli, perennial leading trainer at Arlington, wondered if there would be a 2020 meeting at Arlington. And when it finally became clear, in late June, that the track was on course to run an abbreviated season this summer, Rivelli was more than ready.

Rivelli enters the third week of the Arlington season with a record of 18-9-8 from 47 starters, which would be dominant on the face of things, and is an even stronger mark considering Rivelli usually has multiple entries in a single Arlington race.