Separatist Firstdown and A Noble Jess Elie, who finished 1-2 in one of the year’s earliest futurities for Quarter Horses, meet again Thursday night in the Grade 2, $265,775 Firecracker Futurity at Delta Downs. The 350-yard race goes with a field of 10.

Separatist Firstdown won the Grade 3 Harrah’s Futurity at Louisiana Downs on March 23, when he drove to a three-quarter length win over A Noble Jess Eli. Since the race, Separatist Firstdown has raced once, overcoming a slow start to finish second in his trial for the Firecracker at Delta on June 15.

Picko’s Pride, given a vacation after running the fastest race of his 16-race career as the runner-up in a Grade 3 stakes in April, will try to fire fresh in Thursday’s $50,000 Hockessin Stakes for sprinters at Delaware Park.

The 5-year-old Picko’s Pride finished second in last year’s running of the six-furlong Hockessin but was elevated to first when Bet the Power was disqualfied for drifting out in the stretch. Both horses are part of this year’s eight-horse field.

Trainer Bubba Cascio will have his first Ruidoso Downs starters since 1993 on Thursday and Friday, when he sends out a pair of 2-year-olds in trials for the Grade 1, $1 million Rainbow Futurity for Quarter Horses. The qualifying races will be spread over two cards for the first time. The horses with the five fastest times on each program will advance to the 400-yard finale July 21. In all, 252 horses have been entered in 26 trials, with 13 races to be run on both Thursday and Friday.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – For the improving Chief Havoc, winning a stakes race may never be as simple as the Grade 2 Swaps Stakes on Thursday at Betfair Hollywood Park.

“We’re the only speed,” trainer Peter Miller said.

That is not Chief Havoc’s only attribute, but Thursday it is the most important. Just three others entered the $150,000 Swaps, and all are closers – Grade 1 winner Java’s War from Kentucky and locally based Grade 3 winners Tiz a Minister and Dice Flavor.

Though she earned more than $135,000 and came within a head of winning a Grade 1 race, Somali Lemonade’s 3-year-old season in 2012 passed without a visit to the winner’s circle. But what she could not do in eight starts last year, Somali Lemonade did in her second race of 2013, holding off Miz Ida to capture the Grade 3, $250,000 Dr. James Penny Memorial Stakes on Tuesday at Parx Racing.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Three of the best female grass runners on the West Coast were among the nominations to the $150,000 Royal Heroine Mile, the supporting feature to the Hollywood Gold Cup on Saturday at Betfair Hollywood Park, but owing to various reasons, none will run, nor will the highly regarded Tiz Flirtatious, which provides a terrific opening for those who do run to pick up a Grade 2 win.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Game On Dude may have company up front when he starts as the 127-pound highweight Saturday in the Hollywood Gold Cup.

Trainer Dan Hendricks said early this week he planned to enter front-runner Batti Man, who was assigned 113 pounds for the Gold Cup.

He is a welcome addition for four others that otherwise would have been chasing a loose-on-the-lead Game On Dude.

“I think we’re going to run,” Hendricks said. “We’ll make our decision Wednesday, but we are out of spots and need a race. It’s a short field, with one speed horse.”

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - At the start of the Hollywood Park meet, Et Tu Walker had won twice in 12 starts and had run for a $16,000 claiming tag in his final start at Santa Anita. But he has awakened this summer, winning three straight, all in turf sprints, and he will try to become the first four-time winner of the current meeting when he runs in Thursday’s eighth race, an optional claimer going six furlongs on turf. Et Tu Walker is entered for a second-level allowance condition.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Bleu Moon Magic is the likely favorite when a field of 11 Minnesota-bred 3-year-old fillies meet in the Frances Genter Stakes going six furlongs at Canterbury Park on Thursday.

Bleu Moon Magic won her debut as a 2-year-old in impressive fashion before finishing third in the Northern Lights Debutante. Her sophomore debut was a wire-to-wire win against older horses, including Talkin Bout, a contender in Wednesday evening’s Princess Elaine Stakes.

Despite an ugly-looking last running line, in which she went from first to last within a half-mile and did not finish the course, Alpha J may be an intriguing contender in the July 4 feature at Finger Lakes.

Alpha J will be making her second start off the claim for perennial leading trainer Chris Englehart in the $50,000 Niagara Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies.