• Tomcito returns in Stuyvesant
• Brown heads back to California with Maram, Silver Timber
• McLaughlin happy with Justenuffhumor, Hatheer
• Plan for Porte Bonheur includes a stop in Canada en route to Top Flight
• Weekend stakes draw a pair of Kentucky invaders
• Dutrow barn sitting on ‘go’

Jet Set Racing Stables’ Tomcito, a dual Group 1 winner in Peru who finished third to Big Brown in the 2008 Florida Derby, will make his return to the races at Aqueduct on Saturday, November 14, in the Grade 3, $100,000 Stuyvesant.

The Kentucky-bred son of Street Cry, who was sixth in the Lexington at Keeneland and seventh in the Grade 2 Peter Pan at Belmont before disappearing from the 2008 Triple Crown trail, was transferred to trainer Tom Albertrani last winter. He made one start, finishing seventh in the Grade 3 Skip Away at Gulfstream Park this past April, before undergoing throat surgery.

He returned to the work tab at Belmont two months ago and most recently breezed six furlongs in 1:15.70 over the training track on October 27.

“We’re bringing him back and hopefully he’ll be as a competitive as he was when he finished third to Big Brown in the Florida Derby,” said Albertrani, who was the assistant trainer for Godolphin when Street Cry finished second in the 2002 Whitney. “He looks like a horse that will go all day with his big, long stride. I would think the pace scenario will be a factor but we will learn more about him once we get him back into racing.”

Tomcito, selected for $7,500 by former trainer Dante Zanelli at the 2006 Keeneland yearling sale, was originally named Leaf’s Nation after Zanelli’s favorite hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. In nine starts, he is 4-1-1 with earnings of $155,139.

Last year at this time, Chad Brown was virtually unknown when he headed out to Santa Anita with his lone stakes winner, Maram. This year, he leaves for California with a defending Breeders’ Cup champion in Maram, who will be starting in the Filly & Mare Turf on November 6, and multiple-graded stakes winner Silver Timber, bound for the Turf Sprint on November 7.

Fans can watch and wager on the full Breeders’ Cup card, plus live racing, both days at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“Maram left this morning,” said Brown of the 3-year-old filly, winner of last year’s inaugural Juvenile Fillies Turf. “Silver Timber is at Keeneland, and will breeze Sunday and leave Monday.”

Silver Timber, a gelded son of Prime Timber whom Brown claimed from trainer Linda Rice in April for $25,000, has won three of his four starts for new owner Michael Dubb, including the Grade 3 Jaipur in July and most recently the Grade 3 Woodford at Keeneland on October 10. In between, he was second by a neck to Cannonball in the Commentator at Saratoga.

“After he won the Jaipur, I started thinking about the Breeders’ Cup a little bit,” said Brown. “I watched the other horses in the division, and basically started working backwards from there.”

Brown, who worked as an assistant to Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel for two years in California, originally had been pointing Maram to the Ladies Classic, but then changed his mind.

“The more I thought about it, she already showed she liked the turf course at Santa Anita and from the information I was getting, it looked like it was going to be a shorter field,” said Brown, who saddled Maram to win the John Hettinger at Saratoga in her first start of 2009. “The distance (1¼ miles) is a question, but the shorter field and the fact she liked the turf course led to the decision.”

Darley Stables’ Justenuffhumor, winner of the Grade 2 Fourstardave and Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicaps at Saratoga, departed Friday morning for his engagement in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

The son of Distorted Humor had his final breeze Wednesday morning over the synthetic surface at the Greentree Training Center adjacent to Saratoga Race Course, covering six furlongs in 1:12.60.

“He’s doing very well,” said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.

In his last start, Justenuffhumor finished sixth, beaten 7¾ lengths, as the favorite in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile over a soft course at Keeneland.

“We were surprised he didn’t handle the surface at Keeneland as he’s run well on all types of surfaces,” added assistant trainer Artie Magnuson.

In the Juvenile Fillies Turf, McLaughlin also pre-entered Shadwell stables’ Hatheer, a good-looking maiden winner at Saratoga on September 7 who subsequently was third in the Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland.

“She’s been training very, very well, and we are so glad she got in,” said Magnuson. “She ran well on the Polytrack, but Alan [Garcia] thinks she likes turf better.”

With no Breeders’ Cup on the agenda, Johanna Murphy-Leopoldsberger’s Porte Bonheur is following a familiar path this fall, which will take her back to the six-furlong Ontario Fashion Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday for the second year in a row, a race she won in 2008. If successful again, she is expected to return to New York for a run in the Grade 2, $150,000 Top Flight Handicap for fillies and mares going a mile at Aqueduct on November 27.

The 4-year-old Hennessy filly put in her final work for this weekend’s race at Belmont Park on Monday, covering four furlongs over the training track in a bullet 47.49.

“We were very happy with the workout,” said trainer David Duggan. “If she does all right this weekend, the plan is to run back here at the end of the month.”

Some of Porte Bonheur’s biggest triumphs have come in New York, including a win in the Grade 3 Victory Ride in Saratoga as a 3-year-old and the Grade 2 First Flight at Belmont in June.

It’s not very often you see an Eric Reed-trained horse in New York. In fact, only two Reed trainees – Sweet and Flawless and Lemonette – have run in the Empire State in the past four years. Both horses ran in graded stakes this summer at Saratoga.

This weekend, that same duo – both owned by Jerry Jamgotchian – will be back in New York for a pair of races at Aqueduct.

Sweet and Flawless, a 3-year-old filly by Unbridled Song, is returning to New York for the Grade 3, $100,000-added Turnback the Alarm Handicap for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on the main track. In August, Sweet and Flawless finished fourth in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama at Saratoga behind runaway winner Careless Jewel.

Her subsequent start was a third-place effort in a 1 ½-mile overnight stake on the Arlington turf.

“I really like the cutback [from 12 furlongs to nine] for her,” Reed said. “She broke her maiden on the dirt and showed she could run on it in the Alabama. It’s a Grade 3 race, and this looks like a good spot to go after some graded earnings. She’s been training extremely well since her last race.”

Rajiv Maragh, second in the jockey standings at Belmont’s Fall Championship Meet, will have the mount on Sweet and Flawless in the Turnback the Alarm.

Reed’s other New York invader, Lemonette, has her sights on Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Long Island Handicap at 1 ½ miles on the turf for fillies and mares.

A 6-year-old daughter of Lemon Drop Kid, Lemonette finished a close-up second behind Mushka in the Grade 3, $100,000 Glens Falls on September 7 at Saratoga. She exits a seventh-place finish in the 1 1/4-mile Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon on October 10 at Santa Anita.

Reed feels Lemonette is none the worse for wear following her recent cross-country voyage.

“She loves to travel,” Reed said. “She’ll probably jump off the van and be ready to run tomorrow. I think the extra quarter-mile is really going to help her. In California, she really didn’t start rolling until it was too late.”

Cornelio Velasquez will ride.

Shortly after IEAH Stables and Resolute Group Stables’ Court Vision completed his final workout in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Mile Friday morning, trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. reported all is well with the 4-year-old son of Gulch.

Transferred to the Dutrow barn following a sixth-place finish as the favorite in the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park this summer, Court Vision rallied to win the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland last out in his first race since having surgery to remove an ascended testicle.

Dutrow says that while he’s not thrilled about running against defending Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Goldikova, he feels Court Vision is at the top of his game.

“I don’t like it,” said Dutrow of the showdown with the European filly phenom. “But our horse is doing good, and as long as he gets a good trip and runs his race, we think that we’re very, very live. We breezed him this morning; he’s ready.”

The second Dutrow-trained horse headed to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup is Paul Pompa, Jr.’s 2-year-old D’ Funnybone.

Winner of the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and the Grade 2 Futurity at Belmont since being privately purchased and transferred to Dutrow, D’ Funnybone will likely be one of the favorites in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile despite having never run over a synthetic surface.

“I can’t say that I’m concerned about it,” said Dutrow of the surface switch. “If I was concerned, I probably wouldn’t go. I’m just hoping he likes the track and is looking for two turns. He’s in a zone. We think if he runs his race that we are the horse to beat.”

According to Dutrow, both Court Vision and D’ Funnybone are scheduled to leave for California on Tuesday, November 3 with D’ Funnybone’s final Breeders’ Cup workout to come Monday, November 2.

In other Dutrow barn news, multiple Grade 1 winning filly Stardom Bound continues to progress nicely as she approaches her return to the races in the Grade 1, $300,000 Gazelle on November 28 at Aqueduct.

“She’s back,” Dutrow said. “She’s doing super. We had to give her some time this summer; she just wasn’t herself and needed a break. We’re very happy with her now.”

The 2008 Champion 2-year-old filly, Stardom Bound has been working steadily at Aqueduct since August.

Dutrow also reported that recent Grade 1 Champagne winner Homeboykris will not be heading west for the Breeders’ Cup, but will instead stay at Aqueduct and point toward the Grade 2, $200,000 Remsen on November 28.

“I never wanted to send him out there. His mind is not like Funnybone’s, so I didn’t want to go messing with his mind,” Dutrow said. “We like him for the Kentucky Derby next year. Right now, out here with [exercise rider] Rudy [Rodriguez] everyday is a good thing. Anything else could turn into a disaster with him, so we want to keep him around here and run him right out of his stall and two turns. We’re very happy with the schedule we have with him.”

Dutrow said that IEAH Stables’ Amen Hallelujah, previously considered possible for either the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies or the Juvenile Fillies Turf, will not make the cross-country trip after sustaining a mild injury while in her stall.

“She did something to her ankle in the stall the other day while she got to kicking around,” said Dutrow of Amen Hallelujah, most recently third in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland. “She just cut it open a little bit. She’s already fine. I could send her back to the track tomorrow, but I’ll probably give her another day or two and just ride her around the barn.”

Four Roses Thoroughbreds’ Anak Nakal, winner of last year’s Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby and runner-up in the Grade 3 Nashua in 2007 at Aqueduct, will be pointed toward the Grade 2 Clark on November 27 at Churchill Downs.

“We’re going to go to Kentucky with him for his next start,” Dutrow said. “We were very happy with his Meadowlands race [third in the Grade 2 Meadowlands Cup], and we’re very happy with the way he came out of the race.”