Cairo Memories was pronounced ready for her 2022 Grade 1 debut in the $700,000 Belmont Oaks at Belmont Park on July 9 after working six furlongs in 1:12.60 at Santa Anita on Thursday.

“It was plenty quick and she did it beautifully,” trainer Bob Hess, Jr. said. “She’s as good as she can be.”

The Belmont Oaks, run at 1 1/4 miles on turf for 3-year-old fillies, will be the first start outside of Southern California for Cairo Memories, a winner of 4 of 7 starts and $352,500, all for David Bernsen and Schroeder Farms.

Midwest-based trainer Robertino Diodoro plans to have divisions of his stable on both coasts this summer. He said he is scheduled to have about 12 horses at Saratoga and about 15 to 20 at Del Mar.

Diodoro is currently racing at Churchill Downs, Canterbury, Lone Star Park, and Louisiana Downs, and in the winter is based at Oaklawn Park.

Diodoro last competed at Del Mar on a regular basis in 2017. He said one of the motivating factors for the decision to send runners back to the summer meet was the communication he’s had with Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Mr Money Bags and Algebra will both sit out the upcoming Stars of Texas Day program on July 17 at Lone Star Park and will likely return to action this winter at Sam Houston Race Park.  

Mr Money Bags won a pair of Texas-bred stakes last season at Sam Houston. He was preparing for a start in the Wayne Hanks Memorial Stakes earlier this month at Lone Star, but was forced to miss the race won by Algebra.  

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The undefeated El Pando is poised to return to stakes company following his impressive 3-year-old debut win last Friday at Lone Star Park.  

Trainer Jaylan Clary said Tuesday that El Pando is probable for the $250,000 Robert Hilton Memorial on Aug. 26 at Charles Town. The seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds will mark the two-turn debut for the horse, who is 3 for 3.  

“He’s run at seven furlongs – it was just one turn,” Clary said of El Pando’s win in the $100,000 Clever Trevor last October at Remington Park.  

ELMONT, N.Y. – Already flush with three Grade 1-winning 3-year-olds, trainer Chad Brown will look to see what he has with impressive maiden winner Nabokov when he faces winners for the first time in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Dwyer Stakes going a mile.

Nabokov, a son of Uncle Mo who sold for $775,000 as a yearling, finished second at Keeneland going 6 1/2 furlongs in April in his debut. He came back in May to win a 1 1/16-mile race by 3 1/4 lengths here on May 15.

ELMONT, N.Y. - He began 2022 drubbing 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park. The connections of Life Is Good hope their 4-year-old ends 2022 vying for his own Horse of the Year title at the Breeders’ Cup in November at Keeneland.

Which Breeders’ Cup race Life Is Good ultimately ends up in will be determined in the coming months, though the $6 million Classic at 1 1/4 miles is the desired goal.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs officials announced Tuesday that the four turf stakes scheduled for closing weekend will not be run as had been hoped, citing continuing problems with its new $10 million turf course.

Training over the Bermuda-hybrid course was permitted Tuesday morning for the first time in nearly three weeks – including four official workouts timed by the Churchill clockers – but afterward, it was decided not to hold racing over a course that has been problematic since it was first used April 30, opening night of the spring meet.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Charge It, the Florida Derby runner-up who finished 17th in the Kentucky Derby, heads what is expected to be a small field of 3-year-olds for Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Dwyer Stakes going a mile at Belmont Park.

Charge It, trained by Todd Pletcher, won a one-turn mile maiden race by 8 1/2 lengths at Gulfstream Park in February before jumping right into the Florida Derby field where he finished second to White Abarrio.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 John Nerud Stakes got a little more interesting Monday when trainer Bill Mott confirmed that Speaker’s Corner, third to Flightline in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 11, will run in the seven-furlong race.

That sets up a meeting with Life Is Good, the multiple Grade 1 winner who is scheduled to make his first start since his fourth-place finish in the Dubai World Cup on March 27.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Forbidden Kingdom, a two-time Grade 2 winner earlier this year against 3-year-olds, has been sidelined by a recent bout with colic.

Trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday that Forbidden Kingdom recovered quickly, but has been sent to a Southern California lay-up facility for a three-week rest. The brief illness put an end to any plans for a summertime start.

“He got right over it,” Mandella said. “He can run at Santa Anita” in the autumn.