A reminder that Friday, August 31, is the second and final Sunset Friday card at Saratoga Race Course this season. Admission gates open at noon. First race post is 2:45 p.m. The ninth and last race will go to post at 7:02 p.m.

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens gave Centennial Farms’ Corinthian a final workout over the Oklahoma Training Track this morning before running in Saturday’s 54th running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward for three-year-olds and up at nine furlongs. Corinthian breezed three furlongs in :36.88.

“Everything is set and he’s ready to go,” Jerkens said. “All we can do from here is hope for the best.”

After winning the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on Memorial Day at Belmont Park, Corinthian faded to last in the Grade 1, 1 ¼-mile Suburban Handicap over the same surface. Corinthian, who has won five races in 10 career starts for $702,273, also won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap earlier this year.

Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito said that Tracy Farmer’s Commentator will not run in Saturday’s 28th running of the Grade 1, $250,000 Forego for three-year-olds and up at seven furlongs at Saratoga Race Course.

Instead, Zito will train the six-year-old, New York-bred gelding for either of two races at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Monmouth Park: the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile for three-year-olds and up at a mile and 70 yards on Friday, October 26, or the Grade 1, $2 million TVG Breeders’ Cup Sprint at six furlongs on Saturday, October 27.

“He’s doing good,” Zito said. “He’s going to be trained up to the Breeders’ Cup. We’ve made up our minds, and we’re going to shoot for that. We have to make this race count. He’s capable of running a big performance off the layoff.”

Commentator, who ran one of the bigger races of his 14-race career in the 2005 Whitney Handicap with a front-running victory, is coming off a sixth-place finish to Diabolical in the Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga on July 28. He also finished third in the Grade 2 Tom Fool Breeders’ Cup Handicap after chasing a :21 3/5 first quarter and a :43 4/5 half mile.

“We pulled the trigger too fast and we shouldn’t have run him in the Vanderbilt, but we did.” Zito said. “The Tom Fool was too tough of a race for him with that 43-second half. He’s still an amazing horse.”

E. Paul Robsham Stables LLC’s Sargent Seattle worked for the first time this morning over the Saratoga Race Course main track since a fever forced trainer Stanley Hough to scratch the two-year-old from the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on August 16.

Sargent Seattle posted the sixth best of 10 workouts for three furlongs with a breeze of :37.63. Hough is planning to train Sargent Seattle up to the Grade 2, $250,000 Futurity for two-year-olds at seven furlongs on September 15 at Belmont Park.

“Because this was his first work since recovering from his fever, we wanted to go easy on him,” Hough said. “We’re looking at the Futurity right now. Still, everything has to work together. He’s a really nice horse, we want to take care of him.”

Sargent Seattle, by 2002 juvenile champion, Vindication, and out of multiple graded stakes winner, Sweet Nanette, made an impression in his debut by scoring a 6½-length victory while running the 5 ½ furlongs in 1:03.47 on Saratoga’s Opening Day, July 25.

Hough also had Robsham’s Trippi’s Storm breeze five furlongs on the main track in 1:01.57.

After Trippi’s Storm finished second to Sunriver in the Grade 2 Bowling Green at Belmont Park and third to Grand Couturier in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga, Hough decided to point the four-year-old gelding to the Grade 1, $500,000 Man o’ War for older turf horses running 11 furlongs over Belmont Park’s turf course on September 8.

Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen Jerkens said this morning he may run Miss Shop in the Grade 1, $300,000 Ruffian Handicap for three-year-old fillies and mares at a mile and a sixteenth at Belmont Park on September 8.

Miss Shop, owned by Hobeau Farm, won the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga by three lengths over Unbridled Belle last Friday. This wouldn’t be the first time Jerkens has brought Miss Shop back to the races in a short period of time.

Earlier this year at Gulfstream Park, Miss Shop finished fifth to Wait a While in the Grade 3 Honey Fox Handicap on the turf. A week later, the four-year-old filly came back to win the Grade 2 Rampart Handicap by 6¾ lengths.

“She came out of the Personal Ensign in really good shape,” Jerkens said. “The Ruffian is only two weeks away. She came back within a week to win that Grade 2. She’s in shape right now.”

Jerkens also suggested that Joseph Shield’s Teammate, who finished fifth in the Personal Ensign and won the Grade 2 Shuvee Handicap at Belmont Park in May, could make her next start at Belmont in the Grade 3, $100,000-added Noble Damsel Handicap for fillies and mares at a mile on the turf on September 15.

Jerkens believes Teammate has the pedigree and foot to suit her for the turf. Sired by 1992 Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, Teammate is out of the mare Starry Dreamer, whose six career victories came on the turf, including three listed stakes. Starry Dreamer also finished second in five graded stakes races on the turf.

“I’ll have to speak to Mr. Allen, but I’d like to run her in the Noble Damsel,” Jerkens said. “I think she’s got the pedigree and a nice foot to run on the grass.”

After training horses for more than 20 years, 40-year-old Mike Trombetta decided to keep a string of horses at Saratoga for the first time this summer. His stay has been successful.

Although he has saddled only two winners at the meet, the Baltimore native has hit the board in six more races from a total of 13 starters. The most impressive horse from his barn this summer is Cave’s Valley, a two-year-old son of Stephen Got Even who led all the way to win his debut by 7 ½ lengths.

“He came out of that race real well and has continued to train well,” Trombetta said. “We have about two or three options as to his next start.”

One of those options is not likely to include a major stakes race in New York over the next month. Cave’s Valley was not nominated to Monday’s Hopeful and Trombetta said the colt would probably not run in the Grade 2 Futurity at Belmont September 15th.

“He really doesn’t have enough seasoning at this point to run in races like those,” Trombetta said. “I want to get him some more experience.”

Cave’s Valley was purchased for $130,000 at Keeneland as a yearling last September for owners Tom and Harry Meyerhoff. Cave’s Valley was supposed to be headed to Hall of Fame trainer Grover “Bud” Delp, but Delp passed away at the age of 74 during the winter. When Cave’s Valley was ready to come to the racetrack, he was sent to Trombetta, who had already taken over the training of a number of other horses owned by the Meyerhoffs.

Trombetta’s only other winner at the meet, another first-time starter named Now A Victor, will be pointed to an allowance at Belmont Park this fall.

In Friday’s feature race, the $80,000 With Anticipation/P.G. Johnson for two-year-olds at a mile and a sixteenth on turf, Trombetta will send out the undefeated High Appeal, owned by the Meyerhoffs.

High Appeal is 2-for-2 with both wins at 5 ½ furlongs on the grass at Colonial Downs. After breaking his maiden by 7 ¾ lengths, the Songandaprayer gelding returned to take the Chenery by six lengths.

“We need to see if he can go long,” Trombetta said. “He won his races in good fashion. He has two races of good experience in him now.”

Trombetta would love to start Saratoga Race Course’s Closing Weekend with a victory, but even if High Appeal loses, the trainer would still call Saratoga 2007 a success.

“We came up here with eight horses and we’ve switched a few in and out,” Trombetta said. “I thought we would be competitive, but it’s nice to come up here and win a couple.”

Waterville Lake Stable’s Posted came out of Wednesday’s five-furlong work of 1:01, breezing, in good shape, according to trainer Tom Bush. Posted is the New York-bred four-year-old gelding that has dominated his competition lately winning a maiden special weight and an entry-level allowance for state-breds. He has won his last two races by more than 20 combined lengths and has earned huge speed figures.

“The long-range plan is to run him in the Vosburgh,” said trainer Tom Bush, obviously very high on the son of Gone West. “He has dazzling talent and he continues to get more experience in his racing and training. We’ve been working with him on changing leads and he’s really improved in that area.”

The Grade 1, $400,000 Vosburgh at six furlongs September 30th, is traditionally one of the key prep races for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.