SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A third of the way through the Saratoga meet and the biggest surprise may be the name atop the trainers’ standings.

Mike Maker won two races on four of the five cards conducted here last week, giving him 14 wins through the first 14 days of the 40-day meet. That’s six more than both Todd Pletcher and Steve Asmussen and seven more than Chad Brown and Brad Cox.

Maker’s horses have earned $932,206, putting him second in that department behind Brown ($1,014,791). Maker’s 47 starters are second only to Brown’s 54.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Peter Miller had six wins at Del Mar from Thursday to Sunday to take a commanding lead in the trainers’ standings. Miller has won 10 races, well clear of Bob Baffert ,who is second with five wins.

After the first two weeks of the meeting, Miller had 4 wins from 33 starters. He won with 6 of 21 runners last week. Miller leads all trainers with 54 starters at the meet.

While Miller plans to remain active, he does not believe he can maintain last week’s level of success.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Shedaresthedevil went past $2 million in career earnings winning Sunday’s Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, her third graded stakes win of 2021 and sixth career stakes win.

The $3 million mark may be within reach this fall when Shedaresthedevil has a scheduled return to Del Mar for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 6. The winner receives $1.04 million.

DEL MAR, Calif. – All-sources handle at the Del Mar summer meeting could reach $500 million for the first time in 13 years and will be well above figures from the last two summers, track chief financial officer Mike Ernst said Sunday.

The track’s summer meeting had an all-sources handle of $431.9 million in 2019 and $467.6 million in 2020, compared to $485.1 million in 2018.

“I think we’re tracking to beat 2018,” Ernst said.

Ernst said $500 million “is within range.” The meeting concludes on Sept. 6.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Kenny McPeek on Friday will be able to run horses at Saratoga for the first time in three weeks. On Saturday, McPeek will be trying to play catch-up with a couple of his stable stars who will be competing in Grade 1 stakes they were not being pointed toward.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Three races into his career, the 2-year-old colt Mackinnon may have found his niche in one-mile turf races.

On Saturday at Del Mar, Mackinnon, a colt by American Pharoah, was tried at that distance for the first time and won a maiden special weight race by 1 3/4 lengths.

Earlier this year, Mackinnon was fourth in a maiden race on dirt at 4 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on May 9 and a well-beaten second in a maiden race at five furlongs on turf there on June 11.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The Chosen Vron, a three-time stakes winner this year, was found to have bled after a second-place finish in the $175,500 Real Good Deal Stakes last Friday at Del Mar, and will be given a rest.

Trainer Eric Kruljac said over the weekend that The Chosen Vron will have “a few months off.” During that time, The Chosen Vron will undergo treatment in a hyperbaric chamber, he said.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Dr. Schivel is likely to have one more start before the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 6 after winning his 2021 stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar.

The six-furlong Bing Crosby was run on the same track and at the same distance as this year's BC Sprint.

Trainer Mark Glatt said Sunday morning that the 3-year-old Dr. Schivel emerged from the race “full of himself.”

“He pulled up very well,” Glatt said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Jack Sisterson had a career-defining moment last summer at Saratoga when Vexatious upset the mighty Midnight Bisou in the Personal Ensign to give him the first Grade 1 victory of his training career.  Unfortunately for Sisterson, a back issue kept him from being here to celebrate the occasion.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Essential Quality may not have blown away the competition or the speed-figure makers with his half-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga, but he continued his winning ways, reminding trainer Brad Cox of another horse in his care.

“He reminds me of Monomoy,” Cox said, referring to the two-time filly champion Monomoy Girl who could attempt another comeback this fall. “They have a will to win. I wouldn’t say they do it the flashiest way, but they make it count.”