On Sunday at Belmont Park, the featured race is the 37th edition of the $200,000 Athenia Stakes. The Grade 3 race will be run at a mile and a sixteenth over the inner turf course and has drawn a field of twelve with Teen Pauline entered for the main track only. 
At seven years-old, back-to-back Horse of the Year Wise Dan is still going strong and enters the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile October 4 at Keeneland as the 4/5 morning line favorite in the million dollar race. 
On Saturday at Belmont Park, some of the most promising two-year-old fillies on the East Coast will compete in the 67th running of the $500,000 Frizette. The Grade 1 race, run at a mile on the main track, has traditionally served as a key prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. 
With the lure of a $500,000 purse on the line, the Charles Town Oaks has drawn a full field of ten, along with two fillies waiting in the wings on the also-eligible list, to compete on Saturday. It is the sixth edition of the Grade 3 race which will be run at seven furlongs. 
If there were any notions that California Chrome would have an easy return to the races after winning two thirds of the Triple Crown, those can be put to rest as the KY Derby and Preakness hero will have to overcome some considerable variables and beat another accomplished field of three-year olds in the $1 million Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby September 20 at Parx. 
On Saturday at Belmont Park, nine fillies and mares are scheduled to go to post in the 27th running of the $200,000 Noble Damsel Stakes. The Grade 3 race will be contested at one mile on the Widener Turf Course. 
The $100,000 Grade III Iroquois Stakes September 6 at Churchill Downs is an interesting handicapping puzzle that features nine two-year old colts attempting to handle the mile and a sixteenth distance for the first time. 
On Saturday, three-year-olds will take center stage in the 35th running of the $400,000 Super Derby. The Grade 2 event has drawn a field of eleven and will be contested at a mile and an eighth over the main track at Louisiana Downs. 
The Monday, August 26 card at Saratoga features a lone stakes race for thoroughbreds – the $100,000 Smart and Fancy Stakes for fillies and mares sprinting five and a half furlongs on the turf course.