Trainer Charlie Appleby won three Breeders’ Cup races last fall at Del Mar and it became quite evident Saturday that he will again be well represented at this year’s two-day Breeders’ Cup event Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland with at least two prominent players. Appleby won three graded stakes in North America on Saturday with Mysterious Night and Modern Games dominating two Grade 1s at Woodbine and Nations Pride doing the same in the Grade 3, $1 million Jockey Club Derby at Aqueduct. While Mysterious Night and Modern Games earned automatic berths into the BC Juvenile Turf and BC Mile, respectively, Nations Pride is only a possibility for the BC Turf. Last year, Appleby won the Juvenile Turf with Modern Games, the Mile with Space Blues, and the Turf with Yibir. Modern Games earned a gaudy 112 Beyer Speed Figure - the highest figure assigned for any turf winner this year - for his 5 1/4-length victory in the Woodbine Mile, a race in which he had to rally six-wide in the lane under William Buick to win. He covered the distance in 1:32.77. “William rode him with a lot of confidence, there was a decent pace on and the pace held as well,” Appleby said Sunday by phone from England. “At the end of the day William and the horse had to find the gaps, and be able to find the acceleration and he did that and in the end he accelerated, I thought, very, very impressively.” :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! It was the second win from five starts this year for Modern Games, who famously won last year’s BC Juvenile Turf while running for purse money only after mistakenly being scratched by the track veterinarians at Del Mar. Modern Games was to return to Appleby’s Newmarket yard on Tuesday along with Mysterious Night. Mysterious Night rolled to a 5 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes for his third victory from six starts this year. He may have established himself as the BC Juvenile Turf favorite. “I just wanted him to go over there and gain some more experience, from a European point of view, breaking from the gate with the bell and on those turns, and he ticked those boxes in very fashionable style, shall we say,” Appleby said. While Mysterious Night and Modern Games will return to the U.S. for the Breeders’ Cup, plans for Nations Pride are pending. Appleby said he was impressed with the manner in which Nations Pride won the Jockey Club Derby at 1 1/2 miles, but he may wait to bring the horse back to the U.S. until 2023, when he would target races like the Man o’ War at Belmont and Sword Dancer at Saratoga. Some of that plan could depend on Rebel’s Romance, the horse Appleby is currently planning to point to the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Rebel’s Romance has won three straight races at 1 1/2 miles on turf, including the Group 1 Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten in Germany on Aug. 14. Appleby said Rebel’s Romance is pointing to this Saturday’s Preis von Europa going 1 1/2 miles at Cologne in Germany. “If he happens to win that, then it will be strongly considered about him being a Breeders’ Cup Turf horse,” Appleby said. “Nations Pride being in the mix as well, but with Nations Pride we very much have our mind on next year with him hopefully doing what we tried to achieve with Yibir.” Yibir won the 2021 BC Turf and this year came to the U.S., where he ran third in the Man o’ War. He was being pointed to the Sword Dancer at Saratoga but had a setback that forced him to miss that race and will keep him out of this year’s Breeders’ Cup. Appleby said Nations Pride benefitted from being in the U.S. for more than two months, during which time he finished second in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby and won the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby. “I think you can confidently say the horse has matured and strengthened well during his stay in America,” Appleby said. “I think that’s a combination of him obviously getting a little bit older, but the style of training there has obviously suited him as well. Training on the dirt tracks has helped him strengthen, combining it with his workouts on the turf.” Appleby said Nations Pride will return to Newmarket on Tuesday along with the 3-year-old filly With The Moonlight, the Saratoga Oaks winner. She was at one time being considered for the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, but instead will be aimed at a 2023 campaign which could include a return trip to the U.S.