Shotgun Kowboy is two works from launching his 3-year-old season, and his first major objective is the Oklahoma Derby, according to his breeder, owner, and trainer, C.R. Trout.

Shotgun Kowboy established himself as a 2-year-old of note last year at Remington Park, where he won two stakes and was edged by a head in the $255,000 Springboard Mile in his season finale Dec. 14. Plans were to target the series for 3-year-olds at Oaklawn, but a physical setback kept Shotgun Kowboy on the sidelines over the winter. He resumed training in March.

ELMONT, N.Y. – For a moment at the top of the stretch of the Belmont Stakes, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin thought his 3-year-old Frosted was gaining ground on American Pharoah, but in a matter of strides, it became evident that was not the case as American Pharoah opened up again en route to a 5 1/2-length victory that capped off the first Triple Crown in Thoroughbred racing in 37 years.

Go West Marie, the winner of four stakes in the last year, may have run her last race.

Trainer Eddie Truman said recently that Go West Marie has sustained an injury that could lead to her being retired at the end of this year and sold as a broodmare prospect. Truman did not disclose the injury.

“We might put her in the broodmare sale or bring her back,” he said. “We’ll see how she looks in a few months.”

Jimmy McNerney checked off yet another box on his racetrack to-do list Friday when he began calling races at Ellis Park, his hometown track.

“It’s a pretty good feeling,” said McNerney, who has been going to the races at Ellis since he was less than a year old.

In recent years, McNerney has been the top jockey agent at Turfway Park and Indiana Grand while raising two young daughters and splitting time between those two tracks. He grew up mostly in Evansville, Ind., just across the state line from Ellis Park in western Kentucky.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Bluegrass Angus passed his first test going a middle distance with flying colors in the $50,000 Chris Loseth Handicap at Hastings last Wednesday. What was impressive about his three-length win over Brother Duster was how he was able to sit just off an extremely fast pace and then go into another gear when jockey Richard Hamel gave him his cue heading into the third turn of the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds. In an instant, the race was over when Bluegrass Angus went from second to opening up a clear lead on the stretch turn.

CYPRESS, Calif.– Warren’s Veneda will have a new but familiar rider when she starts in the $200,000 Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 12.

Trainer Craig Lewis said on Friday that Joe Talamo will ride Warren’s Veneda in the Grade 2 Great Lady M, replacing Tyler Baze, her regular rider this year. Baze is booked to ride the unbeaten Sunday Rules in the Great Lady M, which is run at 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares.

Spanish Queen, the California-bred filly who won the Grade 1 American Oaks and aims to upset the Belmont Oaks on Saturday, officially is trained by Richard Baltas.

But jockey Brice Blanc also has been there every step of the way.

Blanc was the filly’s workout rider before she ever started and has ridden her in all four of her races. Blanc recently talked about Spanish Queen, 3 for 4 and looking for more.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Olorda will be trainer Chad Brown’s foe in Saturday’s Grade 1 Belmont Oaks, but sometime next month she will be his friend.

Olorda, recently purchased by owner Martin Schwartz, will return to Germany after Saturday to run in the German Oaks on Aug. 2, according to her current trainer, Michael Figge. But she eventually will return to the U.S. to be based with Brown, who counts Schwartz among his primary clients.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Samraat, who on Saturday is making his first start since last June, suffered his first defeat when he ran second to Wicked Strong in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial in April 2014. Wicked Strong and Samraat finished fourth and fifth in that year’s Kentucky Derby.

CYPRESS, Calif. – The first three days of the two-week Los Alamitos summer meeting Thursday through Saturday had strong entries, with an average of 8.88 entrants per race.

It is not expected to last. Racing secretary Bob Moreno said on Thursday that he expects a decline for Sunday’s program and into the second and final week of the meeting July 9-12.

“It wasn’t much different last year,” Moreno said. “The longer we go into this, and the closer we get to Del Mar, it will be smaller. We’ll be a little lighter from now on.”

The Del Mar summer meeting begins July 16.