The fantastic week that Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez had in Saratoga during the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival helped him become the first rider in North America to surpass the $500 million mark in career earnings.

Velazquez, 53, was not as impressed as the number suggests he should. Following Thursday’s card at Aqueduct – where he won the first two races – Velazquez had amassed $500,310,277 in career earnings, according to Equibase. Javier Castellano is second in purse earnings with $408.2 million

It was 30 years ago when trainer Mac Robertson first showed up at Canterbury Park and won four races from 23 starts during the summer of 1995. He’s since become the kingpin of racing in Minnesota.

Robertson is Canterbury Park’s all-time leading trainer in local wins, with 1,105 through Thursday, and stable earnings, with more than $24 million. He’s won 141 stakes at Canterbury and in 2011 was inducted into the track’s Hall of Fame.

Thorpedo Anna won the 2024 Kentucky Oaks on a Friday, and the following evening Mystik Dan won the Kentucky Derby. The two classic winners trained by Kenny McPeek are on target to race on the same card once again at Churchill Downs.

They’re coming to these June 28 starts from very different places – and ironically.

Wesley Ward said during the third week of May that his Royal Ascot plans hinged on a 2-year-old colt named Outfielder. If Outfielder ran to expectations in a maiden turf sprint May 23 at Churchill, he’d head whatever team Ward decided to send overseas. Outfielder did run to expectations, and he was the hinge point for Ward’s Royal Ascot participation. But Ward, for the first time since 2012, is not sending anyone to the five-day Royal Ascot meeting that begins Tuesday.

Trainer Jayde Gelner, who in 2023 swept both divisions of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity at Lone Star Park, has some notable candidates for this year’s renewal of the races. The 5 1/2-furlong stakes for 2-year-olds, which each carry a guaranteed purse of $50,000, will be run July 5.

Mor Force is an early favorite for the colts and geldings division after winning his debut with a Beyer Speed Figure of 84 on May 30 at Lone Star Park. He romped by five lengths to earn what is the third highest Beyer put up by a 2-year-old so far this year in North America.

Touchuponastar, who won the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic in March at Fair Grounds, is on a bit of a busman’s holiday for the summer and is scheduled to return to racing this fall, owner Jake Delhomme said Tuesday.

“We’ve done it the last two years,” he said.

Touchuponastar is based at a training center in Louisiana. He ranks fourth in all-time earnings among Louisiana-breds with $1,460,000. Delhomme said the Louisiana-bred stakes for older route horses over the summer are on turf and that fact, coupled with the heat, made for the decision to freshen Touchuponastar.