Marcus Hersh

No trainer has more Fleur de Lis Stakes wins than Bill Mott, and nearly no one would be surprised if Mott notches his fifth Saturday with Scylla.

The 6-year-old Argentine mare Didia ran the best race of her career – at least the North American part of it – winning the Grade 1 New York Stakes on June 7 at Saratoga, and Didia is going back for more.

No trainer took a harder hit when Churchill Downs Inc. shuttered Arlington Park in 2021 than Larry Rivelli, whose season revolved around the suburban Chicago racecourse. Even sans Arlington, Rivelli sent out 14 stakes winners during 2022 and again in 2023, but this year has brought greater struggle. Through July 2, Rivelli had only two stakes starters, neither of whom won, and Rivelli’s strong chance to get off the stakes duck, with Nobals in Friday’s $100,000 William Garrett Handicap, depends heavily on weather.

As poorly as Lotsandlotsofcandy ran debuting in April at Keeneland, she was equally brilliant winning second time out June 8 at Churchill Downs. And if the 3-year-old filly’s second start speaks to who she really is, she’ll win again Friday in the featured eighth race at Ellis Park.

His powerful Epsom Derby win in the rearview mirror and a potential Breeders’ Cup Classic start still beyond the horizon, City of Troy is set to run in Group 1 Eclipse Stakes on Saturday at Sandown Park in England.

At first glance, Impel looks like a slam dunk to win the Indiana Oaks. She’s run the fastest races, faced the strongest opposition, and the 7-5 morning-line price notwithstanding, she figures an odds-on favorite facing no more than seven foes Saturday at Horseshoe Indianapolis in the Grade 3, $250,000 Indiana Oaks.

After their remarkable two-day early May run for trainer Kenny McPeek and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., the 3-year-old campaigns of Thorpedo Anna, who won the Kentucky Oaks, and Mystik Dan, who captured the Kentucky Derby a day later, sharply diverged. Now, the pair is set to come together for a winter in New Orleans.

Despite no real increase in purses, several top trainers, jockeys, and horses will venture down to New Orleans for the beginning of the 76-day Fair Grounds meet, that starts Friday with a card capped by the Joseph R. Paluso for 2-year-olds and the $100,000 Delmar Caldwell Memorial.

Two Sharp proved too sharp – much, much too sharp – for her seven rivals in the Grade 3, $300,000 Chilukki Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs. Racing with blinkers added despite having easily won her most recent race, a Keeneland allowance last month, Two Sharp, in her first start beyond 6 1/2 furlongs, had absolutely no trouble staying this one-turn mile.

Coady Media Lagynos returned $9.12 in winning the Commonwealth Cup at Churchill Downs on Saturday.