OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After two terrific performances as a longshot, Noble Moon most certainly will be a strong favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct. But handicappers who didn’t have him when he won his debut at 25-1 in September certainly will be reticent to climb on his bandwagon at a much shorter price Saturday.

Options are limited in the Jerome, the first of four races for 3-year-olds on this circuit that offer qualifying points to the May 3 Kentucky Derby, but alternatives include Classic Giacnroll and the maiden Scotland.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Noble Moon heads a field of eight 3-year-olds hoping to take their first steps down the Triple Crown trail in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.

The Jerome, at a mile and 70 yards, is the first race of the year that offers qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby, a system put in place last year by Churchill Downs which replaced a system that emphasized graded stakes earnings. Last year, the Jerome did not offer points. This year, it offers 17 points (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishers.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Shared Belief, the runaway winner of the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity on Saturday at Betfair Hollywood Park, came out of the race in good order and will now head to Santa Anita, where he will be stabled and make his next start.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With still more than five months until the 140th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, it came as no surprise whatsoever Saturday when the mutuel field closed as an odds-on favorite in Pool 1 of the Derby Future Wager.

The field, the 24th or “all others” option, closed at 4-5, with Remsen Stakes winner Honor Code next at 10-1 among the 23 separately listed entrants. Then came New Year’s Day (15-1), Tap It Rich (25-1), Havana (26-1), Cairo Prince (26-1), and Strong Mandate (27-1).

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With four maidens in the field and only two horses that have won so much as a first-level allowance race, surely the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes could have come up tougher.

“They can always come up tougher,” said trainer Pat Byrne, who will saddle the 6-5 morning-line favorite, Almost Famous, for the $150,000 Kentucky Jockey Club on Saturday, closing day of the 25-day fall meet at Churchill Downs. “But we’re fine with how it shapes up for us.”

[bc_video_id:311064:]OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Kentucky Derby was the furthest thing from trainer Shug McGaughey’s mind when he ran Orb in a one-mile maiden race on the undercard of the Cigar Mile program last Nov. 24 at Aqueduct.

It is with the Kentucky Derby in mind that McGaughey is running Honor Code in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Remsen Stakes for 2-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles. The Remsen will be run as race 9, one race after the Grade 1 Cigar Mile, and offers 17 qualifying points (10 to the winner) for next year’s Kentucky Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs will offer parimutuel future wagering on the Kentucky Derby in November for the first time when Pool 1 for the 2014 Derby opens for a four-day run Wednesday at noon Eastern.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs officials announced late Friday that a future wager on the 2014 Kentucky Derby will be offered at the end of November, by far the earliest such parimutuel futures have been offered since first being made available in 1999.

The pool will be open for four days, from Wednesday, Nov. 27, through Saturday, Nov. 30, closing at post time of either the Remsen at Aqueduct or the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill, whichever is run first.

The points system introduced last year to determine eligibility for the 2013 Kentucky Derby will remain mostly the same for the 2014 Derby, Churchill Downs announced Friday.

Four races were removed from the points system, including the Derby Trial at Churchill Downs and the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, while two races were added: the Iroquois Stakes for 2-year-olds at Churchill and the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct for 3-year-olds, held just after the start of the new year.

Falling Sky, who finished last in the Kentucky Derby, had surgery to remove a chip out of his left front ankle, trainer John Terranova said Wednesday.

Terranova said that “everything went beautiful” and Falling Sky could resume training in 60 days.

“We’ll probably see him back in the fall,” Terranova said.

Terranova also said that Swift Warrior, who scratched out of the Woodford Reserve, would most likely run back in the Dixie Stakes at Pimlico.

Terranova said Swift Warrior had tied up which led to his being scratched.