BOSSIER CITY, La. - Vicar’s in Trouble started his career in a humble place, as an $8,000 yearling purchase. But this season at 3, the Louisiana-bred has done more than most might have ever imagined, earning a spot in the Kentucky Derby after taking the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, then surpassing $1 million in earnings on Saturday with a blowout win in the Grade 2, $400,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.

My Afleet, the winner of Saturday’s Dueling Grounds Derby at Kentucky Downs, will likely test older stakes horses in his next race, trainer James “Chuck” Lawrence said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Steve Asmussen has been known to have eventful Saturdays, and the first Saturday of the 12-day September meet at Churchill Downs certainly was one of those.

Asmussen not only sent out the one-two finishers in the Iroquois Stakes in Lucky Player and Bold Conquest, but he also was heavily involved in the three 2-year-old maiden special-weight races on the Saturday card.

CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome added blinkers for a between-races workout Saturday at Los Alamitos, and the result was a solid six-furlong move that puts him on target for a Sept. 20 comeback in the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx.

Jockey Victor Espinoza, who worked the Kentucky Derby winner for trainer Art Sherman and assistant Alan Sherman, said there was a big difference between his workout Saturday and his workout one week ago.

AUBURN, Wash. – Bill Tollett hasn’t won a stakes race in ages. He took an overnight handicap with Blue Tarp at Portland Meadows in 2011, but otherwise, it’s been almost eight years since something big has come his way – when Diligent Prospect won a stakes race at Sunland Park in December 2006.

Tollett will have a fighting chance to end his dry spell Sunday, when he sends out two starters – Fine Red Wine and Dance With Effie – in the $50,000 Northwest Farms Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, one of six added-money events for statebreds on Washington Cup Day at Emerald Downs.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – High Dollar Kitten is something of a particular horse, and in Sunday’s seventh race at Louisiana Downs, he gets a distance that should suit him well, said trainer Pamela Simpson. High Dollar Kitten will be moving to a mile for a first-level allowance on turf that drew a field of nine, with Itsy Bitsy Walk entered for the main track only.

High Dollar Kitten could go favored after finishing second at this level in his last start Aug. 9. He raced 7 1/2 furlongs and will be getting his first shot at mile during this meet on Sunday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The field for the $150,000, Grade 3 British Columbia Derby at Hastings next Sunday is firming up, and there will be at least nine horses entered Wednesday. Wonder World, who won the $50,000 CTHS Sales Stakes last Monday, could round out the field to 10.

“I think he deserves a shot, but I’ll let his owners make the decision,” said trainer Carl Lausten. “I know it is coming back pretty quick, but he’s been bouncing around the shed row, and he just seems to be coming into himself.”

EAST BOSTON, MASS. – Sept. 12. That date is circled in red on the calendar of every local horseman, for it either will be the day a dagger is driven through the heart of the racing and breeding industries in Massachusetts or it could signal the dawn of a new and exciting era.

Next Friday, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is scheduled to announce its long-awaited decision on whether Mohegan Sun and partner Suffolk Downs or rival Wynn Resorts will be awarded the sole Boston-area destination resort casino license.

DEL MAR, Calif. – After a disappointing effort to start his career, American Pharoah on Wednesday showed what the hype had been about prior to his debut, with a runaway victory in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity that made him one of the top contenders for the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and allowed trainer Bob Baffert to extend his already-sizeable record in the race.

American Pharoah rolled to a 4 3/4-length victory over Calculator, with Iron Fist another 8 1/4 lengths back in third. For Baffert, it was his record 12th win in the Del Mar Futurity, all since 1996.

Shared Belief, in his first work since capturing the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 24, went a half-mile in 50.20 seconds Thursday at Golden Gate Fields.

Jerry Hollendorfer, the trainer and co-owner of Shared Belief, said the horse went “real good” and was on course for the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita on Sept. 27, a race that Hollendorfer intends to use as a final prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

Hollendorfer called the Awesome Again “a legitimate spot to run the horse.”