ARCADIA, Calif. – The depth and quality of the field and the degree of difficulty for handicappers as it pertains to Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita is reflected by the odds of two morning-line makers.

While both David Aragona, of Daily Racing Form, and Jon White, of 1/ST Racing, tab Locked as the favorite, a trio of contenders in the 11-horse field are within one point of him.

ARACADIA, Calif. – Tamara has made only two starts, never run around two turns, and has not had a race in eight weeks. That’s a lot of questions to answer for a filly who is likely to go postward the shortest price of any horse competing in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup when she takes on a dozen rivals in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It may be more a question of which one than whether or not.

Aidan O’Brien has won five renewals of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, two more than any other trainer. By Friday evening that number might have risen, but will a sixth victory come from River Tiber or Unquestionable?

“They’re two high-class colts who always stood out,” said jockey Ryan Moore, who himself probably helps answer the question.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Some trainer is going to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint for the first time. Todd Pletcher took down the first edition of the $1 million race with Bulletin in 2018. He has no starter Friday. Charlie Appleby won last year with Mischief Magic. Nothing this year. And Wesley Ward, who won in 2019 with Four Wheel Drive, in 2020 with Golden Pal, and 2021 with Twilight Gleaming? The cupboard is bare.

ARCADIA, Calif. – She Feels Pretty has grown up quickly for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

A maiden race winner in her debut at Ellis Park on July 16, She Feels Pretty not only won her stakes debut in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine on Sept. 16, she smashed 12 rivals in the one-mile turf race, drawing off to win by 4 1/4 lengths.

The win gave She Feels Pretty a fees-paid berth to Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita and the daunting role of winning the $1 million race for 2-year-old fillies at a mile as the likely favorite.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Although most of the major works were completed over the weekend for Breeders’ Cup 2023, there was still some significant business to attend to Monday at Santa Anita. Stablemates Arabian Knight and Speed Boat Beach, key contenders in both the Classic and Sprint, put the finishing touches on what has been a series of very impressive works leading up to their respective races here Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – On a rainy Tuesday in April, Live In The Dream won his 2023 turf debut in a five-furlong handicap at tiny Pontefract Racecourse in Northern England.

Four months later, and about 30 miles to the northeast, Live In The Dream was the shock winner of the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York Racecourse, earning a fees-paid berth to Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

Live In The Dream is trainer Adam West’s first starter in the United States.

“This is a fairy tale,” West said over the weekend.

ARCADIA, Calif. – At 55-1, Onesto was a surprise third in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Oct. 1, missing second by a nose in Europe’s top race for older horses.

Of the 15 runners in the $5.29 million Arc, Onesto is the only expected starter in Saturday’s $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita, the richest grass race in the United States.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Arcangelo, the Belmont Stakes and Travers winner and presumptive favorite for Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, did not train for two days after developing “a little warmth” in his left hind foot, trainer Jena Antonucci said.

Antonucci said she pulled the left hind shoe from Arcangelo and the horse simply walked at the barn both Sunday and Monday.

Antonucci termed her level of concern as “very low” and did enter Arcangelo on Monday morning in the Classic.

Idiomatic only burst onto the scene this year, as the Juddmonte Farm homebred won her stakes debut in March. She now brings a streak of four straight graded stakes wins, including Grade 1 triumphs in the Personal Ensign and Spinster, into Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita.

But by contrast, Idiomatic’s rise to the top was decades in the development, as she is from one of the foundation families for the international Juddmonte operation that was founded in 1980 by the late Prince Khalid bin Abdullah.