SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Steve Asmussen got his Saratoga summer off to a fast start winning four races from his first 14 starters, including the unveiling of a pair of 2-year-olds and the second start of a very promising 3-year-old.

The 3-year-old Beau Liam validated his 7 1/2-length debut win at Churchill on May 29 with a gritty nose victory Saturday over fellow second-time starter Witsel in a seven-furlong first-level allowance race. Beau Liam, a son of Liam’s Map, ran seven furlongs in 1:22.90 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 106, as did Witsel.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Jockey agent Tom Patton has made some noise at Woodbine by lining up the accomplished journeymen Shaun Bridgmohan and Antonio Gallardo to ride here full time beginning this week.

Bridgmohan, 42, the brother of former local rider Jermaine Bridgmohan, has won 3,349 races in North America, including 285 stakes. He was the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice in 1998. Gallardo, 34, has 2,066 victories. He has five riding titles to his credit at Tampa Bay Downs, and was the leading jockey four times at Presque Isle Downs.

Jockey Geovanni Franco took off his mounts on Sunday after he was involved in a spill during morning training.

Franco was aboard Arson, an unraced 2-year-old trained by Richard Baltas who sustained a fatal injury during a workout.

Earlier on Sunday morning, Needless to Say, a maiden race winner here in August 2020 for trainer Dean Pederson, died of an apparent internal injury during exercise, according to a track official.

Franco was taken to a local hospital and was released in late morning, according to his agent, Mike Ciani.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Racing near the front throughout, Express Train fought off a late challenge from Tripoli to win his second stakes of 2021 in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar.

That sort of perseverance has not been an every-race occurrence this year for Express Train, who ended a three-race losing streak in the $251,500 San Diego Handicap dating to the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 30.

“Everything went right for him,” trainer John Shirreffs said Sunday. “He made a nice move and ran all the way to the finish.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Todd Pletcher has won the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes eight times, with none of those victories more impressive or emphatic than Wit’s popular eight-length triumph here Saturday. 

Unfortunately for the soon-to-be-inducted Hall of Fame trainer, he wasn’t on hand to enjoy the performance in person.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Hot Rod Charlie and Mandaloun, the first two across the finish, are headed in different directions after the chaotic conclusion to the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Althiqa and Summer Romance, the 1-2 finishers in Saturday’s Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga - as well as the Grade 1 Just a Game at Belmont Park six weeks ago - are expected to ship to trainer Charlie Appleby’s Newmarket yard on Tuesday, but a return to the U.S. in the fall is likely for both 4-year-old fillies.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Approximately 12 hours before he was to run his presumptive Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun in the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park, trainer Brad Cox was at Saratoga on Saturday morning to watch Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality put in a serious workout toward a start in the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes here on July 31.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mystic Guide, who won the $12 million Dubai World Cup in March, will be sidelined at least for the remainder of 2021 after being diagnosed with a chip in his right knee that will require surgery, his connections announced Saturday morning.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The audience was restricted, but betting money flowed freely on Friday’s opening day of the Del Mar summer season.

All-sources handle, including satellite locations and account wagering nationwide, reached an opening day record of $21,339,643 for the 10-race program, well above the previous mark of $16.5 million set on opening day in 2016. All-sources handle on opening day last year was $15.02 million on a program held without an ontrack crowd because of the pandemic.