Cody’s Wish will have to contend with at least one 3-year-old classic winner when he defends his title in next month’s Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, which drew 15 pre-entries on Monday.

Preakness winner National Treasure is being pointed for the Nov. 4 race at Santa Anita, according to trainer Bob Baffert.

Kentucky Derby winner Mage also was pre-entered in the Dirt Mile, but his connections made the race their non-binding second preference behind the Classic, which he will be able to get into when final Breeders’ Cup entries are taken Monday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – If you’re judged by the company you keep then Ozara should be highly regarded when she heads a full field of 2-year-old fillies entered to run 1 1/16 miles on turf in Friday’s $135,000 Chelsey Flower Stakes at Aqueduct.

Ozara, a daughter of Lope de Vega trained by Christophe Clement for Cheyenne Stables, has run twice, winning a maiden turf race going 1 1/16 miles at Saratoga and finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Chad Brown has won six of the last seven runnings of the Athenia Stakes and the biggest reason he hasn’t won seven straight is he didn’t have a starter in 2019.

Friday, at Aqueduct, Brown will send out a trio of contenders in quest of an eighth victory in the $150,000 Athenia, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for females he also won in 2013. The Athenia was originally on the calendar for last Saturday, but wasn’t carded due to a forecast of rain.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Wickenheiser drops out of stakes company with a big chance to score in Friday’s Woodbine feature for nonwinners-of-two allowance types and $50,000 3-year-olds, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the main turf.

Named after Canada’s most famous female hockey player, Hayley Wickenheiser, the daughter of Lemon Drop Kid has run hot and cold throughout her nine-race career. Her three second-place finishes this year all came under Kazushi Kimura, who has the mount Friday.

Santa Anita
Monday, Oct. 23
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature: 62 degrees
Track: Fast

ARCADIA, Calif. – Breeders’ Cup Classic contenders Arabian Knight and White Abarrio were the big news at Santa Anita on Monday morning, the former turning in a terrific work immediately after the second renovation break, the latter after having a scheduled work for the race, with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, postponed, tentatively, until Wednesday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – At the height of summer racing in Southern California, jockey Kyle Frey called timeout on his 2023 season in late July.

Frey needed a break, mentally exhausted after dealing with months of self-imposed pressure to succeed. While his fellow jockeys competed for the best prize money of the year through August and early September at Del Mar, Frey stayed away, waiting until late September to return at the much quieter Los Alamitos September meeting.

Vahva continued a breakout season for trainer Cherie DeVaux with a gritty, half-length win in the Grade 2 Raven Run last Saturday at Keeneland. Vahva will look to put a bow on this season with one more outing against 3-year-olds in the Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita.

“She’s good,” DeVaux said Sunday. “Right now, the goal is the La Brea.”

The Grade 1, $300,000 La Brea Stakes will be run at the same seven-furlong distance as the Raven Run on Dec. 26.

The trainers Phil Sims and Brad Cox have one-syllable given names and surnames. Both were born and raised in Kentucky, Cox in Louisville and Sims north of Lexington. Divergence between the two comes with regard to volume of racehorses. Sims through Oct. 22 had nine winners this year. That’s a good three-day span for Cox, who comes into the week with 209 winners in 2023.

The final four-day stand of the Keeneland fall meet opens Wednesday with an eight-race card and a $54,576 carryover into the pick six. With the meet winding down, five of the day’s races have oversubscribed fields.

One of the more intriguing events is the sixth race, a $110,000 turf allowance for 2-year-old fillies who have never won two races. Leucadia, who has never crossed the line first in a race for Brendan Walsh, has faced solid horses and should appreciate the 1 1/16-mile distance. At 15-1 on the morning line, she provides a longshot opportunity in multi-race wagers.