MIAMI – Trainer Stanley Gold couldn’t wait to stretch Best Plan Yet around two turns in last Saturday’s Foolish Pleasure Stakes. And after watching the son of Hear No Evil register a one-length victory over longshot Union Cash for his first stakes victory, he’s even more eager to bring him back for a third try at division leader My Brown Eyed Guy in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality Stakes at Calder on Oct. 12.

Ready Racer easily handled Boomtown Brat when they met in the $50,000 Sun Sprint Championship on Sept. 7, but the shape of a $35,000 optional-claiming race that will serve as Friday’s feature at Northlands Park could swing the advantage to Boomtown Brat. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up drew six horses, but it looks like a battle between Boomtown Brat and Ready Racer for the top spot.

Veteran trainer Gary Capuano recorded the 1,000th victory of his training career Wednesday, when Miss Speaker captured the second race at Delaware Park in Stanton, Del.

Capuano, 49, is best known for his work with Captain Bodgit, the narrowly beaten runner-up in the 1997 Kentucky Derby. Capuano has trained since 1988.

Capuano, a Maryland native and lifelong resident, is the younger brother of trainer Dale Capuano, who passed the 3,000-win milestone in February 2012. They are the sons of Phil Capuano, a longtime owner-breeder who died earlier this year.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Malcolm Pierce won his fourth stakes of the meeting for Sam-Son Farm when he sent out His Race to Win to capture last Sunday’s Grade 3 Ontario Derby. On Saturday, Pierce will look to win his second stakes of the meeting for Josephine Abercrombie’s Pin Oak Stable when he sends out Overheard in the $125,000 La Lorgnette, a 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race for 3-year-old fillies.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Big Lute was so impressive in winning his career debut last winter that Steve Hobby put the colt on the Triple Crown trail just 17 days later. The results were disappointing, but easy to comprehend, considering Big Lute emerged from the Feb. 18 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park with a small knee chip.

Surgery was performed, recuperation went smoothly, and on Friday the comeback begins when Big Lute returns to action in a first-level allowance race at Churchill Downs.

Although it will host one stakes race, the San Joaquin County Fair meet in Stockton, Calif., is a meet that relies upon lower-level horses. The connections of those claiming horses came through on Friday’s opening-day card, with 53 horses entered for the six Thoroughbred races.

In addition to Thoroughbreds, Stockton also cards races for Quarter Horses, mules, and Arabians. The meet runs Fridays through Sundays for two weeks. With six days of racing, Stockton is running two fewer cards than last year.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Classic Bryce drops out of Grade 2 stakes company to contest Friday’s Woodbine headliner, a second-level optional claimer scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on grass.

Classic Bryce showed promise in spring 2012, when he placed in three consecutive stakes leading up to the Queen’s Plate, but he got drilled in the Plate itself and in the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie.

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ELMONT, N.Y. – Thursday’s 10-race card at Belmont Park will have a Saratoga look and feel to it, with four stakes, including two steeplechase events, highlighted by the Grade 1, $150,000 Lonesome Glory Handicap at 2 1/2 miles.

To no one’s surprise, Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard appears to hold the strongest hand in both the Lonesome Glory and the $75,000 William Entemnann Memorial at 2  1/4 miles.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Justin Johns was driving a horse van from Arlington Park to Kentucky Downs on Wednesday. The horses riding along behind him weren’t any he trains. Johns hauls some horses and does a little of this, a little of that to supplement his work as a trainer. A horse named Ballyjamesduff was claimed from Johns last week at Arlington, and that left him with a one-horse stable going into the fall.

POMONA, Calif. – The Barretts at Fairplex wagering menu will undergo a minor tweak Thursday when eight races are presented at the Los Angeles County Fair.

The 50-cent pick five begins one race later than normal; it covers races 4-8 Thursday. The $2 pick six will cover the final six races, 3-8. Officials changed the start of the pick five to avoid conflict between the two bets, though the pick five is far more popular.