SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After posting three-win days Sunday and Monday, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. now has 46 wins at the meet, nine more than Javier Castellano. The 23-year-old Ortiz is seeking his first Saratoga riding title after finishing second to Castellano last year.

The record for wins at a Saratoga meet is 68, set by Ramon Dominguez in 2012. Through the first 28 days of that year’s meet, Dominguez had 47 wins, one more than Ortiz through the same period.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The El Cajon Stakes on Saturday and Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes on Sunday, both at one mile and worth $100,000, are the features on a fairly light weekend of racing at Del Mar which bridges the big Pacific Classic weekend last week and the stakes-filled closing weekend next week.

DEL MAR, Calif. – It’s been a tough couple of days at the office for the personnel at trainer Doug O’Neill’s barn following the death on Sunday at Del Mar of the popular Pure Tactics, who suffered catastrophic injuries to the sesamoids in his left hind leg during the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on turf and had to be euthanized.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After finishing second to Todd Pletcher for the last four years, trainer Chad Brown enters the final two weeks of the meet with a legitimate chance to win his first Saratoga trainers’ title.

Brown won two races on Monday’s card, including the $100,000 Summer Colony Stakes with Catch My Drift, giving him a 24-22 advantage over Pletcher with 12 cards left to run. Over the previous 12 racing cards, including Monday, Pletcher had won only three races.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though ontrack business dipped slightly during the fifth week of the meet, Saratoga continues to show double-digit increases in all-sources handle compared to last year.

Through the first 28 days (through Monday) of the 40-day meet, all-sources handle is $428,876,320, a 13.5 percent increase over last year’s figure of $377,793,901 at this time.

Travis Stone will be the announcer for the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics at Charles Town on Oct. 10. The Breeders’ Classics card consists of nine stakes for West Virginia-bred or -sired horses and will offer $1.08 million in purses.

Larry Collmus has called the last three Breeders’ Classics cards but had to step down due to his new position with the New York Racing Association. Dave Johnson was the announcer for the first 25 runnings of the Breeders’ Classics.

Stone, 31, calls the races at Churchill Downs and is the backup winter announcer at Aqueduct.

There has been a lot of change at Parx Racing this year.

Sam Elliott is the track’s new director of racing; the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and track management in June agreed to reduce racing dates in coming years; and on Saturday Parx will begin an eight-week fall festival, during which purses will average $500,000 per day.

The festival is being funded by money saved by racing fewer dates. Parx was granted 210 dates in 2014 and 199 this year, but under the agreement reached in June will race 156 days in 2016.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There were 91 winning tickets sold on Monday’s pick six at Saratoga, each worth $18,134.

There was a $418,098 carryover entering Monday’s nine-race card and an additional $2,146,365 was wagered into the pool.

The sequence got off to an interesting start when Shotgun Love ($5.30) won the first leg of the bet, race 4. Twisted Cat Tail, a 7-1 first-time starter, was scratched at the gate, and bettors who used that filly got the post-time favorite, which was Shotgun Love.

The opening-day card for the eight-week Parx Fall Festival, which begins Saturday, will offer more than $1 million in purses.

There are 111 horses entered in the 11 races, an average of 10 per race. Horsemen from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware will participate. Even Sheikh Mohammed and Shadwell Stable have runners on the card.

The 32-day festival will offer overnight purses of $500,000 per day, but director of racing Sam Elliott wanted to make a statement on opening day.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Runhappy, coming off allowance wins at Indiana Grand and Ellis Park, had his first work over the Saratoga surface Monday, going a half-mile in 49.50 seconds under jockey Edgar Prado. Runhappy is being pointed to Saturday’s Grade 1 King’s Bishop.

Runhappy walked away from the pole in 14.32 seconds on Monday but got his final quarter in 23.68 seconds. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.36.

“I’m happy with it; he galloped out strong,” trainer Maria Borell said. “He’s a very talented colt. I think he’ll be a part of the mix.”