Jockey Trevor McCarthy has left California for his home in Maryland after a stay of more than three months, and plans to take a break from racing to receive treatment on an injured ankle, he said on Friday.

McCarthy said he was not sure when or where he would return to riding, pending an appointment with a doctor in New York next week.

“I have a long-term injury that is catching up to me,” he said. “It’s starting to bother me. My left ankle has a tear in it. I’ll take some time to get that fixed.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll need an operation.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Multiple Grade 1 winner Raging Bull is among the 23 nominees to the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, which headlines a blockbuster Sept. 18-19 weekend at Woodbine.

Victorious in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland in April, Raging Bull is among the four nominated to the $1 million turf event by trainer Chad Brown. Brown also nominated Grade 2-winning mare Blowout, multiple stakes winner Flavius, and Value Proposition, who finished third behind Flavius in the Lure Stakes on Aug. 7 at Saratoga.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Wit, dominant winner of the Grade 3 Sanford, and High Oak, dominant winner of the Grade 2 Saratoga Special, head a field of 11 juveniles entered Friday for Monday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Hopeful Stakes, which brings down the curtain on the Saratoga meet.

Both Wit and High Oak have won both of their starts. Wit, trained by Todd Pletcher for Mike Repole, has been targeting this race since he won the Sanford here by eight lengths on July 17. He drew post 6 and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – First Captain will wear blinkers for the first time and have jockey Joel Rosario aboard when he makes his next start, in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 25, trainer Shug McGaughey said Friday.

First Captain, winner of the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes and the third-place finisher in the Curlin Stakes on July 31, worked in those blinkers and under Rosario on Friday morning, going a half-mile in 46.74 seconds over the Saratoga main track, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch.

Trainer John Shirreffs is not known for producing many first-time winners. Lady T may prove to be the exception in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race for 2-year-old fillies on Sunday at Del Mar.

“She’s pretty good,” Shirreffs said Friday. “She’s a precocious 2-year-old filly.

“We’ve never asked her to work much in the morning. She’s done it all very handily. She’s got a lot of great quality.”

In late April, the 3-year-old colt Flightline won a maiden race in his debut with such speed and ease that he seemed certain to play a role in summertime stakes.

The expectation did not materialize into reality. Flightline developed a foot abscess in July, and his second start finally comes in a six-furlong allowance race at Del Mar on Sunday.

Perhaps Flightline will run in a stakes in the fall.

“He’s doing really well,” trainer John Sadler said. “It’s really fun to have horse with this much talent.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Multiple graded stakes winner Maxfield, most recently second to Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Whitney here Aug. 7, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward Stakes on Oct. 2 at Belmont Park, his trainer Brendan Walsh said Friday.

The Woodward, which this year was moved back to Belmont Park after having been run at Saratoga since 2006, is a one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race. Walsh believes it will be a useful prep for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

The depth of trainer Walther Solis’s stable of California-bred 2-year-olds this summer is part of the reason Finneus will start in Monday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, the closing-day feature of the summer meeting.

Finneus could have run in Saturday’s $100,000 I’m Smokin Stakes for statebreds were it not for that Solis has Mr T’s Thirsty, Rock N Rye, and Thirsty Always in the field.

Top Executive and Bayakoas Image came out of their respective wins in the $50,000 Muckleshoot Derby and $50,000 Washington Oaks last Sunday at Emerald Downs in good shape, but are headed in different directions.

The Blaine Wright-trained Top Executive, who was all-out to beat Coastal Kid in the Muckleshoot, is taking a planned four-month break. His hard-fought victory in the Derby was his third-straight stakes win at Emerald.

The $10 million renovation of the Churchill Downs turf course is progressing on schedule. Drainage and foundation work is complete on the 85-foot-wide course, while a six-inch sub-base of masonry sand is currently being topped by a blended mix of topsoil and grit sand. The actual seeding of the seven-furlong course with fescue and bluegrass won’t be undertaken until after the 12-day September meet concludes Oct. 3. No turf racing will be conducted until the 2022 spring meet at the earliest.