The Filly and Mare Sprint is shaping up as one of the more competitive races on the two-day Breeders’ Cup extravaganza at Del Mar.

Trainer Chad Brown has won the seven-furlong event three times, including the last two with Goodnight Olive, and has a prime contender in Ways and Means.

The 3-year-old captured her last three starts by a combined 14 3/4 lengths and had no problems besting elders in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom last Sunday at Aqueduct.

Practical Joke was the busiest stallion in North America in 2024, The Jockey Club reported, as it released recent breeding and foal crop statistics that continued the prevailing trends in the industry.

Trainer Kenny McPeek has been trying forever to win a Breeders’ Cup race, which is longer than it took his 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna to secure a clear path in her final prep.

The filly finally got there in the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes, her fifth consecutive graded victory against fillies. As for McPeek, whose first Breeders’ Cup starter was in 1994, he has started 37 runners in the BC and still seeks his first win. It could happen Nov. 2 at Del Mar.

ARCADIA, Calif. – While racetrack officials and horseplayers try to estimate the size of the pick six pool Friday at Santa Anita, more important questions must be addressed before deciding to play or pass.

Is the bet hittable, and at what cost?

Santa Anita raised the pick six minimum bet from $1 to $2 this fall, hoping the higher minimum makes it tougher to hit and produces more carryovers that increase overall handle. Wish granted – an $83,940 carryover is up for grabs Friday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Nakatomi seems happy to be back at his Keeneland base for Friday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Phoenix Stakes, as attested by his strong training here in recent weeks after a career-best effort to win his first Grade 1 out of town. Horsemen are happy to be here, too, as Keeneland opens its lucrative fall meet Friday.

For an international race, American stables have dominated the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, winning 11 of 14 runnings since its inception in 2008.

This Friday and Sunday, three stakes at Aqueduct, Keeneland, and Santa Anita will help determine the depth of the U.S.-based team for the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

The home team may need strength in numbers.

The pecking order for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 1 at Del Mar could be sorted out this weekend with three Win and You’re In challenge races for the division.

The Alcibiades on Friday at Keeneland is led by top prospect Immersive, while the Frizette on Saturday at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet lured North America’s fastest 2-year-old filly on Beyer Speed Figures in Senza Parole. The Oak Leaf on Saturday at Santa Anita was expected to draw Tenma, an unbeaten Grade 1 winner for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

The Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is shaping up as an international clash worthy of the event’s “World Championships” moniker.

On one side of the Atlantic reigns Cogburn, who has been untouchable in the United States this year, including a record-smashing performance in the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes. From the other side of the ocean comes Bradsell, unbeaten in three 2024 starts, including a pair of Group 1 races. They are expected to converge in the five-furlong race, which typically draws a large field.