SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Like just about everybody else with horses currently stabled on the grounds at Saratoga, Friday morning was a particularly busy one for trainer George Weaver once the turf course opened for training for just the second time this spring.

Weaver sent out 10 horses to breeze over the grass at the Oklahoma training track, including four – Sacred Wish, Governor Sam, Outlaw Kid, and Golden Channel – during the special session reserved for stakes horses immediately after the course opened at 10 a.m.

Cugino made a successful 4-year-old debut Thursday at Aqueduct, winning a third-level allowance race by one length, adding more depth to trainer Shug McGaughey’s older male turf division.

Cugino, who ended his 3-year-old season with a victory in the Tropical Park Derby, saved all the ground under Irad Ortiz Jr., then split horses in the stretch to earn the victory. His final time of 1:40.99 for 1 1/16-miles was just .88 of a second off the course record and translated to a 93 Beyer Speed Figure, a career-best.

Trainer Norm Casse plans to have a larger presence than normal at Saratoga this summer, maintaining a 16- to 20-head string led by graded stakes winner Awesome Aaron.

Take Charge Tom, a three-time stakes winner who is coming off a third-place finish in the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lone Star Park, is headed to Canada.

Trainer Robertino Diodoro said the 3-year-old is scheduled to run next in the $50,000 Derby Trial at a mile on July 14 at Assiniboia Downs. The goal is for Take Charge Tom to run in the Western Canadian Derby series that begins with the $125,000 Manitoba Derby on Aug. 4 at Assiniboia.

Komorebino Omoide will be going for a sweep of the two richest races at Lone Star Park next Saturday, June 28, when he makes a rare start on grass in the $250,000 Texas Turf Classic.

The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up headlines Lone Star’s Summer Turf Festival of four stakes. The program also includes the $125,000 Wasted Tears for fillies and mares and a pair of turf sprints. Entries were to have been taken Saturday, June 21.

Separating their quality 3-year-olds for the second half of the season is a nice problem to have for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds and trainer Steve Asmussen, with three stakes winners preparing to get back to the races in the coming weeks.