Far Right could be a sleeper in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot next Saturday. He will come into the 1 1/16-mile race off a troubled third-place finish in the Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs. Conquest Tsunami won that race and likely will vie for favoritism in the Jackpot, which will anchor a card of eight stakes worth $2.3 million in total.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While trainer Todd Pletcher has not finalized his lineup for the six stakes scheduled here for Thanksgiving weekend, one horse certain not to participate in the Grade 2 Remsen is Blofeld.

Blofeld, who is 3 for 3, including Grade 2 victories in the Futurity Stakes and Nashua Stakes, will be pointed to a 3-year-old campaign.

“He came a long way in a short period of time,” said Pletcher. “We just decided to give him a break sooner than later. We’ll get him down to Florida in a month or so and go from there.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Following his 9 1/2-length maiden win Sept. 26 at Belmont, Liam’s Map seemed a logical contender for the Grade 3 Discovery at Aqueduct on Nov. 1.

But his connections, owners Teresa and Vincent Viola and trainer Todd Pletcher, opted for the more conservative route. Instead, Liam’s Map figures to be a short-priced favorite in a first-level allowance race Sunday at Aqueduct that goes as race 6.

The race is run as a one-turn mile, the same configuration as his maiden win, in which he ran a mile in 1:34.72 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 98.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Palace, a multiple Grade 1-winning sprinter in 2014 who finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, may not be done for the year.
Trainer Linda Rice said Friday she would work Palace over the weekend to determine whether or not to point him toward either the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap on Thanksgiving Day at Aqueduct or perhaps the Grade 1 Cigar Mile two days later.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The biggest race in the United States is the Kentucky Derby. The biggest race in Canada is the Queen’s Plate. So, if the winners of those two races met at Del Mar, that certainly would make it the biggest race this track has had in a long time.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Demonica was highly regarded when she first came to trainer John Sadler’s barn last year at age 2, but in her first four starts on dirt and Polytrack, she finished in the money just once.

She was moved to turf last month at Santa Anita, and that appears to have turned her career around. After beating maidens that day, she came back Thursday and won a first-level optional claimer. Both her victories came against California-breds.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Princess Violet, the dominant winner of the Empire Distaff Stakes on Oct. 18, worked a sharp five furlongs in 1:01.54 on Thursday over the Belmont Park training track. What she is working toward is still to be determined.

Trainer Mike Hushion said he is considering the Grade 3, $300,000 Go for Wand Stakes on Nov. 28 or the Grade 3, $400,000 Comely Stakes the following day for the 3-year-old filly. The Go for Wand is for fillies and mares 3 years old and up at a one-turn mile. The Comely is for 3-year-old fillies and is run around two turns at 1 1/8 miles.

The $90,000 Kenny Noe Jr. Stakes did not have sufficient entries to fill on Saturday but was carried over and will be run Sunday with a field of seven older horses set to go six furlongs on the main track. Owner-trainer Carlo Vaccarezza helped make the race by supplementing Little Daddy.

Little Daddy is coming off the best effort of his career, crushing a solid field of allowance horses last week at Gulfstream Park West.

Rock Shandy won on opening day at Del Mar, and could try to bookend the meet with a win on closing day. After defeating maidens last week in his first try around two turns, he could come back in the Grade 3, $150,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes for 2-year-olds on Nov. 30, according to trainer Peter Miller.

“Hopefully he’s turned the corner,” said Miller, who said he would decide on whether to go in the DeMille after conferring with Jerry Crawford, who runs the Donegal Racing partnership that owns Rock Shandy.

DEL MAR, Calif. – When trainer Michael McCarthy returned to his native Southern California late last year and went out on his own after working as an assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher, his clientele largely focused on upcoming 2-year-olds. It takes time and patience for that approach to come to fruition, but McCarthy’s small barn is picking up steam, and fast.