Thanks to astute scheduling, Turfway Park gets center stage Saturday with a trio of stakes, led by the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes. The other two stakes on Turfway’s card are the Grade 3, $100,000 Bourbonette Oaks and the $75,000 Rushaway. There are three other graded stakes Saturday – the Grade 2, $150,000 Pan American at Gulfstream, the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior at Aqueduct, and the Grade 3, $100,000 Tokyo City Cup at Santa Anita.

Spiral Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – Calidoscopio certainly was the oddest winner of a Breeders’ Cup race at Santa Anita last November.

Not often does a 9-year-old, Argentine-bred horse make his U.S. debut in the Breeders’ Cup and score a 17-1 upset in a race such as the Marathon over 1 3/4 miles on dirt. The performance remains Calidoscopio’s only start in this country. Illness and minor injuries kept him away from expected starts in December, February, and earlier this month.

The San Marcos Stakes – formerly the San Marcos Handicap – has been run since 1952. In that first running, at a mile on the main track, the 1950 Horse of the Year, Hill Prince, made his first start as a 5-year-old and won under a pull, setting himself up as the favorite for the Santa Anita Handicap three weeks later.

Unfortunately, Hill Prince was beginning to show the wear and tear of his 29-race career. He finished fifth in the Handicap, under 129 pounds, and was retired to stud before he had a chance to cool out.

ARCADIA, Calif. – To revive the career of Richard’s Kid, trainer Doug O’Neill will try something next weekend with the 8-year-old multiple stakes winner that has not been done since the summer of 2009 – a start in a turf stakes.

Richard’s Kid is being pointed for Saturday’s $150,000 San Marcos Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita in an attempt to reverse a four-race losing streak. The losses coincide with the time that Paul Boghossian, Dave Kenney, Dan Kramer, Steve Keh, and Mark Verge have owned Richard’s Kid, having purchased him privately last August.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – When Game On Dude finished seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 3, he went from being a Horse of the Year candidate to just another good older horse.

“It’s amazing how things can go so badly in just two minutes,” trainer Bob Baffert said.

Game On Dude typically races near the front, but was never close to the lead and finished 15 lengths behind Fort Larned as the 6-5 favorite.

“He didn’t run,” Baffert said. “We were stunned. He lost Horse of the Year.”

It’s not a soap opera. Really it’s not. It has been a perfectly normal chain of events that, arranged in order, appear to be quite rational and seem to make absolute sense, although having the cast of “Dynasty” on call wouldn’t hurt.

Let’s see if I’ve got this straight:

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The short-term goal for Richard’s Kid is a win in Saturday’s $250,000 Native Diver Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park.

The long-term hope is that the 7-year-old can have enough success Saturday and early in the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting to justify a trip to the Middle East for the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March.

“I think Dubai is the main goal in front of us,” trainer Doug O’Neill said Wednesday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Doug O’Neill planned to spend Thursday evening in San Francisco watching his beloved Detroit Tigers take on the Giants in the second game of the World Series. He spent Thursday morning at Santa Anita, where he worked six potential Breeders’ Cup starters, including Classic contenders Richard’s Kid and Handsome Mike.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Doug O’Neill had his priorities Thursday. First up was to work a number of his horses at Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup, including Richard’s Kid and Handsome Mike, both of whom will run in the $5 million Classic on Nov. 3.

Next was to get out of here and head up to San Francisco to watch his beloved Tigers in Game 2 of the World Series against the Giants.

Monday at Santa Anita, trainer Doug O’Neill worked three of his top prospects for the Breeders’ Cup – the 2-year-old Know More, the 3-year-old Handsome Mike, and the 7-year-old Richard’s Kid.

Know More, the winner of the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar in August in his debut, is bound for the Juvenile. Second in the Frontrunner Stakes on Sept. 29, Know More worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 on Monday.

Handsome Mike, who won the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 22, worked six furlongs in 1:13.40. He is a candidate for the BC Dirt Mile.