A major player for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile emerged last Saturday at Keeneland. This Saturday at Ascot, two major European players for the BC Mile could see action. Three-year-old Annapolis ran the best race of his seven-start career winning the Grade 1, $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile last Saturday by 1 1/2 lengths. Two starts last year made Annapolis look like the best 2-year-old grass-route horse in North America, but the colt was injured before he could start in the BC Juvenile Turf. Before Saturday, Annapolis gave hints he could be a top-level grass miler, and his performance at Keeneland validated that sense. “He’s always been a promising horse – tremendous pedigree, tremendous physical. He’s run well every start of his life,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Annapolis, a son of War Front, for his breeder, Bass Stables. Annapolis got a 103 Beyer Speed Figure in the Turf Mile and will train toward the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, Pletcher said. The horses who finished second and third behind him, Ivar and Order of Australia, also are expected for the BC Mile. Ivar was fourth in the 2020 mile and third last year, while Order of Australia, based in Ireland, was a 73-1 winner of the 2020 Mile. Smooth Like Strait, second in the 2021 BC Mile, was scratched from the Turf Mile because of a minor injury, and trainer Michael McCarthy said Wednesday that the horse remains on course for a second BC Mile start next month. :: BREEDERS’ CUP 2022: See DRF’s special section with top contenders, odds, comments, news, and more for each division Casa Creed, winner this year of the Grade 1 Fourstardave over a mile and the Grade 1 Jaipur at six furlongs, loomed in upper stretch of the Turf Mile but flattened out to finish fifth. Co-owner Lee Einsidler said Casa Creed is more likely to try the BC Turf Sprint than to run in the Mile. Regal Glory could only finish second to her Chad Brown-trained stablemate In Italian in the First Lady Stakes, also Saturday at Keeneland, but she earned her fourth straight triple-digit Beyer (102) and will face males for the second time this year in the Mile. In August, Regal Glory finished second to Casa Creed in the Fourstardave. Meanwhile, final entries for the British Champions card on Saturday at Ascot were to be taken Thursday morning, and as of Wednesday, BC Mile hopefuls Modern Games and Kinross were still entered in two races on the program. Modern Games could start in the Queen Elizabeth II over one mile – a race where the 3-year-old filly Inspiral is favored – if the going at Ascot does not become too soft. Meanwhile, Kinross’s connections are hoping for a rain-softened course that would give their horse a better chance in the six-furlong British Champions Sprint. Even if both horses wind up racing Saturday, they are expected to run back at Keeneland. Modern Games, a Godolphin homebred trained by Charlie Appleby, has been exceptional in his two North American starts, easily winning the BC Juvenile Turf at Del Mar last fall and beating runner-up Ivar by more than five lengths in the Woodbine Mile on Sept. 17. Kinross won the Group 1 Prix de la Foret over seven furlongs on very soft ground earlier this month in France. The Ireland-based mare Pearls Galore, a front-running winner of the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown and sixth in the 2021 BC Mile, has been taken out of Breeders’ Cup consideration. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.