LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Race Dates Committee of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Wednesday morning approved a special request by Keeneland Racecourse to run five live racing dates in July.

The approval gave the okay to an agreement between Keeneland and Ellis Park that will allow Keeneland to run spectator-free from July 8-12, overlapping dates that had been awarded to Ellis Park late last year, prior to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Keeneland announced the agreement late Friday night, and the committee was widely expected to approve the request.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Steve Asmussen and Brad Cox trainees are among the principals in a terrific renewal of the Winning Colors, one of two filly-mare stakes that highlight an 11-race Saturday card at Churchill. Asmussen has Mia Mischief, and Cox has Break Even in a six-furlong race that also drew Spiced Perfection and Bell’s the One in a field of nine.

The Winning Colors (race 7) and the Mint Julep (race 11) both are Grade 3, $100,000 races. Cox has two of the top contenders among a full gate of 14 in the Mint Julep, a 1 1/16-mile turf race, in Beau Recall and Juliet Foxtrot.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisiana Derby winner Wells Bayou will bypass the June 20 Belmont Stakes in favor of the July 8 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand or July 11 Blue Grass at Keeneland, trainer Brad Cox said. Fifth in a division of the Arkansas Derby in his last start, Wells Bayou already has a sufficient number of qualifying points (104) to make the 20-horse cutoff for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The connections of Midnight Bisou are leaning toward the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs as the next race for the star mare, although the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park is still in play.

Midnight Bisou, who has been the No. 1-rated horse every week in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association poll since March 10, has been “training gorgeously” at Churchill, trainer Steve Asmussen said this week. The next race for the 5-year-old mare will be her first since a runner-up finish in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 29.

The Laurel Park racing office took entries Tuesday in anticipation of potentially reopening as early as Saturday, but without any guarantees that the Maryland track would be allowed to return to live racing this week.

Charlatan, winner of the first division of the Arkansas Derby in his stakes debut May 2, had an initial test sample come back positive for an undisclosed medication, multiple sources told Daily Racing Form. If confirmed by a second test, it could result in his disqualification.

Charlatan was a front-running winner of the Arkansas Derby, his third win in three starts. The Arkansas Derby was run on Oaklawn Park’s closing day after being postponed from its original date of April 11.

Irad Ortiz Jr., who has won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding rider the last two years, has been suspended three days for his ride on Rockemperor in Saturday’s Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at Santa Anita.

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Storm the Court, the champion 2-year-old male of 2019, might have his next start in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on July 4, trainer Peter Eurton said Monday.

Storm the Court is winless in three starts this year and recently underwent precautionary tests after finishing sixth in a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on May 2 at Oaklawn Park.

“We didn’t find much of anything,” Eurton said. “We gave him a little freshening.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The pressing question will linger for the next few days, if not longer. Will Maxfield run next in the Belmont Stakes or forgo a Triple Crown chance by waiting for something like the Blue Grass Stakes?

This newest dilemma for Godolphin and trainer Brendan Walsh has surfaced in the aftermath of Maxfield winning the Matt Winn on Saturday at Churchill Downs. The Street Sense colt stayed unbeaten in three starts with a strong stretch run, earning a 95 Beyer Speed Figure and furthering his stature amid the elite of the 3-year-old class.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Four of the five stakes winners Saturday were making their first start of the year, and all are headed next for graded races.

Besides Maxfield (95 Beyer) in the Matt Winn, those other layoff winners were Dunbar Road, a 90 Beyer Speed Figure in the Shawnee; Sharing, an 84 Beyer in the Tepin; and Owendale, a 99 Beyer in the Blame. Smooth Like Strait, who got a 95 Beyer in winning the War Chant, had gone unraced since Feb. 29.