FORT ERIE, Ontario – Campbell Wilson, age 36, has been around horses since the age of 10, when he first learned to ride at the White Oaks Academy in Chippewa, Ontario.

Even before that time, Wilson remembers with some clarity his father taking him to the races at Fort Erie, and it was then and there that he marveled over and fell in love with Thoroughbred horses.

As a teenager, Wilson spent some time on a stud farm in Lexington, Ky.

“My time in the Bluegrass state was a life turning point,” said Wilson.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The 3-year-old division lost an intriguing member Friday when the connections of Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby who has been battling a foot injury this summer, said he would not race again this year.

Owner Rick Porter said there were “no meaningful races” for Normandy Invasion to run in this year, and he will focus on a 2014 campaign.

Porter said Normandy Invasion was sent to Kentucky earlier this week, first to get checked out at the Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and then to get turned out at WinStar Farm.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Considering she had just won a division of the New York Stallion Stakes at Belmont Park - beating four of the same horses she was facing Thursday - Frosty Bay was pretty cold on the tote board for the $100,000 Statue of Liberty division of the stallion stakes.

Frosty Bay, 7-1, warmed the hearts of her backers, however, when, under Javier Castellano, she rallied down the center of a rain-moistened inner turf course to win the Statue of Liberty by two lengths over Image of Noon, the same filly she beat by one length in June.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Transparent, who finished first but was disqualified to fifth in the Curlin Stakes on July 26, worked four furlongs in 48.87 seconds Thursday in preparation for the Travers Stakes here Aug. 24.

He went his first quarter in 24.06 and his second quarter in 24.81 while switching leads nearing the wire a time or two.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Perhaps the biggest surprise at Thursday’s post-position draw for Sunday’s Grade 2 Saratoga Special was the addition of the New York-bred Ogermeister to the lineup. Ogermeister, a runaway winner of his career debut at Belmont, was not nominated for the Special and had to be supplemented into the race by trainer Wesley Ward at a cost of $4,000. The purse for the Special is $200,000.

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DEL MAR, Calif. - Garrett Gomez will resume riding on Saturday after receiving doctor’s clearance following recent treatment for alcoholism.

Gomez’s doctors told California Horse Racing Board officials on Thursday that Gomez was fit to resume riding, according to steward Tom Ward. In recent days, Gomez has undergone counseling for substance abuse and mental health issues with a psychiatrist in Newport Beach, Calif.

Down Town Allen won both the Fancy Buckles and the Sadie Hawkins at Charles Town last season, and he will attempt to complete the same double in Saturday's $50,000 Sadie Hawkins.

Needmore Flattery will be going for her fourth win in as many lifetime starts in the $50,000 Cleveland Kindergarten for 2-year-old Ohio-breds at Thistledown on Saturday.

Needmore Flattery won at first asking July 6 at Thistledown. Trainer Tim-Hamm took Needmore Flattery to Beulah Park eight days later, and she won the $50,000 Hoover against statebred males by nearly four lengths. In her most recent outing, she won the $50,000 Miss Ohio locally by over eight lengths against statebred fillies going 5 1/2 furlongs.

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DEL MAR, Calif. - Paynter, second in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap on July 27, worked six furlongs in 1:13.40 on Thursday for a late August stakes at Del Mar or Saratoga.

Paynter, who recovered from severe cases of colitis and laminitis last fall, worked in company with the stakes winner Fed Biz, who was given the same time.

AUBURN, Wash. – Much as they have in previous stakes races at Emerald Downs this summer, stablemates Stopshoppingdebbie, Goin to the Window, and Blueberry Smoothie are expected to dominate the proceedings Saturday in the $65,000 Washington Oaks, the meeting’s traditional championship for 3-year-old fillies. The 10-race card begins at 2 p.m. Pacific.