ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The year has started somewhat slowly for Work All Week, one of two graded stakes performers for the sprawling Midwest Thoroughbreds operation of Rich and Karen Papiese. But the other Midwest star of 2014, The Pizza Man, popped back into action this season in excellent form, winning the May 30 Opening Verse Stakes here by 2 1/2 lengths. Off that performance and last year’s form, he is one of the favorites Saturday in the Arlington Handicap.

ELMONT, N.Y. – John Velazquez will ride Tonalist again in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 8. He plans to ride him a little better than he did in the Grade 2 Suburban, when he made a premature move and was beaten a head by Effinex.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Options abound for Ready for Rye, the Grade 2 Swale Stakes winner who on July 4 made a sparkling turf debut, winning a second-level allowance race here by 2 3/4 lengths. He ran seven furlongs in 1:20.94 and earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure.

Ready for Rye is by City Zip and out of the mare Embroidery, a two-time winner on turf, so his success on grass did not surprise trainer Tom Albertrani.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Wicked Strong did not find a soft spot in which to make his turf debut in Saturday’s $150,000 Forbidden Apple Stakes at Belmont Park.

Among his seven rivals in the one-mile overnight stakes are King Kreesa, a two-time Grade 3 Poker Stakes winner; Reload, undefeated in three turf tries; Grand Arch, a Grade 2 winner; Aztec Brave, a listed stakes winner at Aqueduct; and Vyjack, a respectable second in his turf debut in the Poker. Howe Great and Choctaw Chuck complete the field.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Five stakes winners this year are among the eight fillies and mares projected to start in Saturday’s $200,000 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos.

The Grade 2 race at 6 1/2 furlongs is led by Warren’s Veneda, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita in March, and Sunday Rules, who is unbeaten in five starts.

The other runners are Amaranth, Fantastic Style, Harlington’s Rose, Legacy, Living the Life, and Ramona’s Wildcat.

Miss Temple City, who represented the United States so well when a solid fourth in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 19, likely will make her next start at Saratoga, according to trainer Graham Motion.

Miss Temple City tried her hardest in the Coronation under John Velazquez but came up two lengths short.

“She ran great. It’s a shame she didn’t get a piece of it,” Motion said. “It would have been great to have her Group 1-placed at Ascot. But she proved she belonged and that the American 3-year-olds stack up.”

The California stakes winners Ashleyluvssugar, Bolo, and Spanish Queen were back at Santa Anita on Tuesday after disappointing performances in Grade 1 stakes in New York and New Jersey last weekend. At least two of them are likely to start at the Del Mar summer meeting, which begins July 16.

Trainer Larry Jones will have the home-field advantage when he sends out two of the eight runners in the $300,000 Delaware Oaks on Saturday.

Jones, who is based at Delaware Park during the summer, plans to run both Lovely Maria, the winner of the Kentucky Oaks in her last start, and White Clover, the winner of the Our Mims, the local Delaware Oaks prep.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Buff Bradley was as disappointed in the results of the Belmont Derby last weekend as anyone who bet on Divisidero at 5-2.

“I really wish we’d been up closer because the pace was so slow, but that’s hindsight,” said Bradley. “The good news is he came out of the race really well, and we’ve got a lot of racing left in the year.”

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – At Woodbine on Sunday, the turf-sprinting filly Katie’s Eyes finished second by a neck to Go Blue Or Go Home in a wickedly fast edition of the Grade 2 Highlander Stakes, an open race in which she tackled males, and on Friday at Arlington, the 2-year-old filly Amira J blazed to a 14-length win in her five-furlong career debut. All in all, it was a good weekend for the stable of Mike Stidham, who trains both horses.