The Celtics, the Yankees, the Steelers – as far as sports dynasties go, they’ve got nothing on Goldikova, who has rendered one of the most challenging events in the Breeders’ Cup canon to nothing more than an elaborate stage for her particular brand of perfection.

The argument between who is most deserving of the Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year is a parochial one when limited to Blame and Zenyatta. They did finish one-two in the year’s most important dirt race, and that carries a good deal of weight, but the year was a highly questionable one in terms of overall quality.

Goldikova was named the Cartier Racing Awards Horse of the Year on Tuesday, an honor emblematic of the best horse trained in Europe. The winner of five Group or Grade 1 races in 2010, the Wertheimer brothers’ 5-year-old mare capped her championship season with her third Breeders’ Cup Mile victory on Nov. 6.

Goldikova’s electrifying run through the Churchill Downs stretch last Saturday confirmed the belief that there is no other Thoroughbred in training quite like her. This was the third time in three years she had set the Breeders’ Cup alight, and each time she did it her way, displaying a turn of foot not seen since Miesque captured two consecutive Breeders’ Cup Mile titles in 1987 and 1988. A year from now, Goldikova will pursue a fourth Mile title long before any other horse can attempt to match her achievement of three Cup titles, barring the return of Zenyatta.

World championship honors may be at stake at Churchill Downs on Saturday, but whether the horse acceding to that level is Zenyatta, Goldikova, or Workforce is difficult to say. After the dust clears at about 6:50 p.m. Eastern, they may all still be chasing Harbinger, whose 11-length cakewalk in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 24 remains the best performance of the year.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Three times, Goldikova has flown across the Atlantic Ocean from France to the United States. Twice she has gone home a Breeders' Cup Mile winner. If it happens again this year - and this will almost certainly be Goldikova's last trip overseas - the mighty miler housed in a modest, plain-bay body will make history.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – She won the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Mile from post 11, and Goldikova will be asked to overcome another wide draw, post 10, in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

With regular rider Olivier Peslier named, Goldikova was installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite to succeed in a quest for an unprecedented third Breeders’ Cup victory. Goldikova was one of four European invaders entered in the Mile, along with Paco Boy, Delegator, and Beethoven.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Europeans have entered the building.

After three Godolphin-owned or associated horses arrived Saturday afternoon following a cush private charter flight, the other 19 Euros intended for Breeders’ Cup races next weekend came on five different Sallee horse vans, getting to the Churchill backstretch later Saturday night. Among the travelers, some of whom spent almost an entire day in transit, were two-time BC Mile winner Goldikova and Workforce, the Arc-winning favorite for the Turf.

NEW YORK – Goldikova is the best horse in the world. In winning the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp on Oct. 3 she set a European record of 11 Group or Grade 1 victories. That is one more than the total racked up by the filly to which she is most often compared, Miesque. No European-trained horse has won as many such races since the group race system was introduced in 1971.

PARIS – Goldikova served notice that she will be in top form for her attempt at an unprecedented third consecutive Breeders’ Cup Mile title when she won the $333,000 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp on Sunday, defeating Paco Boy by a rather comfortable half-length in one of six Group 1 races on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe undercard.