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ARCADIA, Calif. – An unspecified setback will preclude the exciting 2-year-old colt Flying Scotsman from running Friday in the $75,000 Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita, a mile turf race in which he would have been heavily favored.

“He has a small problem and we’re not going to be able to run,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said early Wednesday morning. “I’m going to have to scratch.”

Flying Scotsman delivered one of the season’s most impressive turf-race performances by a 2-year-old last month at Del Mar. He won the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille by more than four lengths, racing a mile in 1:34.44 with a final quarter in a blistering 22.88 seconds. He earned a 91 Beyer, the top turf figure by a 2-year-old male in North America this year.

Owned and bred by Calumet Farm, Flying Scotsman is a ridgling son of English Channel. He has two wins from three starts. He finished third in his debut, followed by a maiden victory and the Cecil B. DeMille in which he was ridden by Flavien Prat.

The defection of Flying Scotsman leaves the Eddie Logan Stakes with nine likely runners. The top contenders include sprint stakes winner Sparky Ville, Cecil B. DeMille runner-up Rijeka, along with last-out maiden winners Bob and Jackie and More Ice.

In related news, Hollendorfer has postponed the initial comeback breeze by budding 2-year-old star Instagrand. A runaway winner in both his starts, including the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar before he was given a break, Instagrand is galloping regularly at Santa Anita and expected to commence working later this week.

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European jockey Andrea Atzeni, a rising international star, will relocate to California for early winter, adding depth to a Santa Anita colony already strengthened by the return of East Coast jockey Joel Rosario.

Atzeni, 27, was scheduled to arrive Thursday from England, where he is among the country’s leading riders and was the regular jockey for multiple Group 1 winner Postponed. Atzeni, who has won more than two dozen Group 1 races, will make his Santa Anita debut on Friday.

The Italian-born Atzeni plans to ride in California for “about six weeks” before he returns to England, according to his local agent, Matt Nakatani. Atzeni is booked on two mounts Friday and two Saturday, including Kodiak West in the Grade 1 American Oaks. Atzeni’s first ride Friday is on race-4 contender Rather Nosy in a maiden race on the downhill turf course. His initial mounts are for trainers Simon Callaghan and Neil Drysdale.

Though he will be riding for the first time at Santa Anita, Atzeni is no stranger to North American racing. On Oct. 13 at Woodbine, Atzeni won two Grade 1’s – the E.P. Taylor with Sheikha Reika and Canadian International with Desert Encounter.

Atzeni has ridden in five Breeders’ Cup races the past two years. He was aboard high-odds runners and none finished in the money. This year in England, Atzeni was the sixth-leading jockey with 86 wins, according to the Professional Jockeys Association.

Atzeni and Rosario, who plans to ride at Santa Anita until spring, bolster a Santa Anita colony that also includes locally based Flavien Prat, Drayden Van Dyke, Mike Smith, Joe Talamo, Giovanni Franco and Rafael Bejarano.

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There are 10 horses but not much speed in the $125,000 Queens County Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday.

Adulator has the best early foot in the 1 1/8-mile Queens County. Name Changer and Exulting are tactical enough to stalk. A slow or moderate early tempo would help their chances and put the deep closers Bonus Points, Holiday Bonus, and Monongahela at a disadvantage.

While Adulator has the best early lick, he may not have enough class to stick. A $50,000 claim by Robertino Diodoro over the summer at Aqueduct, he came up short behind Bonus Points in a third-level optional claimer at Laurel Park in November. He eked out a nose win over second-level rivals in Maryland two starts back.

Name Changer has been in good form for trainer Alan Goldberg since returning from an 11-month layoff in May. He knocked off optional-claiming fields at Parx Racing and Delaware Park in his first two comeback races, then was a little flat when third in the Carl Hanford Stakes at Delaware. He rebounded to win the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup two weeks later.

In his most recent start he finished third to Aztec Sense and Zanotti in the Pennsylvania Derby Championship Stakes in September. Aztec Sense came back to win the $196,000 Claiming Crown Jewel in Florida and is a perfect 8 for 8 on the year.

Name Changer will likely settle several lengths off the pace Saturday.

“I think a mile and an eighth where he’s fourth and fifth and can relax is a good trip for him,” Goldberg said. “He used to be a bad-breaking horse. Now, he’s been breaking well and sitting a little closer.”

Exulting started twice within seven days in off-the-turf stakes at Aqueduct in November. He won the $146,000 Artie Schiller and then weakened to fourth after racing on the pace in the $202,000 Red Smith.

He was “given a little break” after those races, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said, and tuned up by working a half-mile in blinkers Dec. 14. McLaughlin will race him in blinkers for the first time Saturday.

“He’s kind of a knucklehead,” McLaughlin said. “He doesn’t like to get hit. He’s kind of funny around other horses. We think now is the time to put blinkers on him. We’d like him to pay attention a little more.”

Exulting, a 5-year-old Tapit gelding, is 4 for 13 and could get first run at Adulator in the Queens County.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Bal Harbour won the off-the-turf Gio Ponti on the lead in his last start, but that race scratched down to three horses following the surface change. His more typical style is to rally from off the pace.

The late-runners Monongahela and Bonus Points exit good performances.

Monongahela came from 10 lengths back to finish second, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the $100,000 Swatara on Thanksgiving Eve at Penn National for trainer Kelly Rubley.

Bonus Points, who races for Pletcher, dropped about 20 lengths off the pace as the 6-5 favorite in a third-level optional claimer at Laurel last time out. He finished with a sustained bid to win by a length.

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Sara Street’s last race came on a rainy day in May at Pimlico. When she begins her comeback Friday at Aqueduct, the conditions are forecast to be eerily similar.

That’s not necessarily a good thing for Sara Street, who finished fourth as the favorite in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan, but trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said she is likely to start even if the track is sloppy once again.

“She may not have liked the wet track in her last race, and it’s supposed to rain in New York on Friday, so we’re not excited about that,” McLaughlin said. “But we’re going to run her. We don’t have much choice – it’s been seven months.”

Regardless of the conditions, Sara Street will be favored in the one-mile first-level allowance. In her races prior to the Black-Eyed Susan, the 3-year-old Godolphin-owned and -bred daughter of Street Sense won an Aqueduct maiden race and finished second in the $200,000 Busher and the Grade 2 Gazelle.

McLaughlin has been patient bringing Sara Street back. He worked her twice in June at the Greentree Training Center in Saratoga but backed off. Starting in late July he worked her three times at Greentree and Saratoga Race Course but once again stopped on her.

Following a two-month break, he has worked her seven times at Belmont Park since Oct. 22.

“She came out of the Black-Eyed Susan with a few little issues,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve started and stopped on her a few times.

Sara Street is the best foal to race out of three-time graded winner Sara Louise, who won the Grade 3 Pocahontas going a mile at Churchill Downs in 2008 and the Grade 3, six-furlong Victory Ride and Grade 2 Top Flight at a mile in 2009.

Pecan Pattie, a 10-length winner of a November off-the-turf maiden race while making her first start in a year, is Sara Street’s top rival.

Entered for the main track only that day, Pecan Pattie went right to the lead in the mile race and then effortlessly pulled away in the final quarter-mile.

Dylan Davis has the mount on Sara Street. Manny Franco rides Pecan Pattie, who is trained by Danny Gargan.

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The eighth-race feature Friday is a wide-open second-level optional-claiming race at a mile.

The top players include Tommy T and the 3-year-old Title Ready, but the race could go a number of different ways. Another notable starter is Thebigfundamental, who will be making his first start in 16 months.

Tommy T has started only three times this year. He was third to the talented runners Westwood and Wonderful Light in January; resurfaced in July to be second behind Uno Mas Modelo, a five-time winner this year; then scored a determined first-level allowance win for trainer Robert Barbara on Nov. 24.

With that race under his belt, and two works since, he should be sitting on a top effort. He will be stretching out a quarter-mile off his six-furlong victory.

Title Ready come into this off two good efforts for Steve Asmussen. He was beaten a nose in a Keeneland optional claimer in October by Bal Harbour, who came back to win the off-the-turf Gio Ponti Stakes at Aqueduct in November. Most recently, he finished second in the 1 1/8-mile Discovery to Plainsman, who came into that race off consecutive allowance wins.

J S Bach and Sir Ballantine, who are in the Friday race, also come out of competitive efforts against Plainsman.

Thebigfundamental, who is owned by Todd Pletcher and his father, J.J., looked headed to the stakes ranks after winning three of his first five starts. He is entered for the $62,500 claiming price Friday.

A longshot to consider is Golden Brown, who closed well in the seven-furlong City of Laurel Stakes in Maryland while shortening up in distance and switching from turf to dirt. A mile looks ideal for him.

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