LEXINGTON, Ky. – Stand Tall, a winner of a second-level allowance here Wednesday, is a possibility to run back on 10 days’ rest in the Oct. 24 Dowager, trainer Rusty Arnold said Friday.

“We’re thinking about it,” said Arnold. “You’ve got to get a little aggressive at the end of the year, especially with no turf racing coming up at Churchill” during the fall meet because of the ongoing turf-course renovation. “There’s a good chance we’ll do that, depending on how she acts once we get her back training.”

Gaffalione to the fore

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Olympiad earned a big Beyer Speed Figure for a second straight race when he held off Milliken to win a first-level allowance here Thursday, getting seven furlongs in a quick 1:21.92 with Flavien Prat up. He was given a Beyer of 98 and paid $3.80..

In his previous start, Olympiad, a 3-year-old Speightstown colt, got a 105 when second to Baby Yoda in a Sept. 4 allowance at Saratoga when returning from a one-year layoff.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – There have been a lot of firsts to occur during this pandemic era, but this is a good one – the Arlington Million winner making his first start back in the Sycamore at Keeneland.

Two horses that raced in stakes races at Monmouth Park in New Jersey this summer have been disqualified after testing positive for regulated medications, according to rulings posted on the Association of Racing Commissioners International.

The Critical Way, trained by Jose Delgado, was disqualified from first in the $76,500 Get Serious Stakes at Monmouth on June 19 after testing positive for levamisole, a deworming agent that can metabolize to aminorex, which is a stimulant. Delgado was issued a 15-day suspension. The Critical Way was the 9-10 favorite in the race.

The undefeated gelding One Timer is working quickly in advance of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 5.

Wednesday at Santa Anita, One Timer worked a half-mile in 47.80 seconds at Santa Anita, the fastest of 15 works at the distance.

“It wasn’t supposed to be that fast,” trainer Larry Rivelli said. “The plan was to go a half in 50. Our rider thought he was going slower than he actually was.”

On Oct. 1, One Timer earned a fees-paid berth to the Juvenile Turf Sprint with a win in the Speakeasy Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Santa Anita.

Trainer Andrew Lerner will have his final starter on Saturday at Santa Anita before disbanding his small stable.

Lerner, 32, has won 88 races since he began training in 2017 and said on Thursday that he plans to stay involved in California racing as an owner.

A leading factor in the decision to quit training was the birth of a daughter last month.

“It was a decision I thought about six or seven months ago,” he said. “We have a newborn daughter and my priorities changed.”

Brandothebartender, a $40,000 claim in 2018 who later won four stakes, has been retired from racing because of a recent injury sustained in a workout at Santa Anita.

Brandothebartender will be retired to the Old Friends retirement farm in Kentucky, according to Jerry Weseloh of Flawless Racing, which is part of the group that owns the 8-year-old gelding.

Trained by Craig Dollase at the end of his career, Brandothebartender was under consideration for Saturday’s $100,000 California Flag Handicap for statebred turf sprinters at Santa Anita when the injury was detected.

Choose Joy has been one of the stars of the local racing season, having won five of her eight starts and missing by a neck and a nose in two others during her 2021 campaign. Four of those victories have come in overnight handicaps, including her last three in a row. She scored a 2 1/2-length triumph when making her debut over the synthetic surface here earlier this month.

Marcus Vitali, who with Bob Baffert was one of two trainers served with hearing notices by the New York Racing Association, has been scheduled to appear before a NYRA-appointed hearing officer beginning on March 1, NYRA said late on Wednesday.

Hawthorne Racecourse has moved their lone open stakes race, the $100,000 Hawthorne Derby, from Oct. 16 to Oct. 23 because of persistent rain in Chicago. Track officials, certain that the grass race would have to be moved to the main track due to course conditions, made the early decision to reschedule the 3-year-old turf route.