Saeed bin Suroor – name ring a bell? Once a staple of American racing as chief trainer for Godolphin, bin Suroor hasn’t started a horse in America since 2019 and hasn’t won here since 2011. He has found quite the spot for his return, bringing Mawj to Keeneland for what might be the best-ever renewal of the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.

Mawj is part of an overflow field of 13 entered in the Grade 1, $600,000 QE II, a 1 1/8-mile grass race for 3-year-old fillies. Only 12 can start, and it’s a doozy of dozen in the field’s main body.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – My Boy Prince, who had a lot go against him when second in the Grade 1 Summer, drops sharply in class to meet Canadian-breds in the $250,000 Cup and Saucer for 2-year-olds, the richest of three stakes on Saturday’s Woodbine card.

My Boy Prince graduated at second asking by six lengths with an 84 Beyer Speed Figure on June 18. He subsequently developed a foot abscess and missed some training heading into the Aug. 27 Simcoe Stakes, a restricted 6 1/2-furlong event that he won by 14 lengths with a 95 Beyer.

It was a year ago that Forte won a hard-fought stretch battle with Loggins to narrowly win the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, then came back four weeks later to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and be crowned 2-year-old champion.

The connections of Locked – which includes Forte’s trainer, Todd Pletcher – hope the same hard-fought victory their horse earned in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland yields the same result in next month’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.

Buchu earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita with a splendid win in the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes on Oct. 6 at Keeneland.

It was the race prior to that, a comprehensive win in a maiden race on Sept. 23 at Churchill Downs, that gave trainer Phil Bauer and his client Rigney Racing the hope that Buchu could be a championship-caliber filly this year.

“It made more sense to try” the Breeders’ Cup after the maiden race, Bauer said Wednesday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There are five maiden races Friday at Aqueduct, three of which are for juveniles, on what is expected to be the calm before another storm hits the New York area for the weekend.

Trainer Christophe Clement has runners in each of the maiden races for 2-year-olds, beginning with Pandagate in the opener, a one-mile dirt race for New York-bred males that drew a field of seven.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jose D’Angelo, who has assembled one of the most potent stables in South Florida, led by the area’s top juvenile, the undefeated Bentornato, will send out key players in a pair of $51,000 optional-claiming and allowance races that highlight Friday’s nine-race program at Gulfstream Park.

This has been a perfect year for the Australian gelding Think About It, who is rated among the leading hopes for the world’s richest sprint, the $12.8 million Everest Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Friday evening.

In the 16-year history of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, no California-based horse has won or even come close. But this year, no 2-year-old turf horse anywhere in North America has produced anything like a standout performance, which brings hope to the trainer Michael McCarthy.

It has been 23 years since an American 3-year-old won the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but the way More Than Looks ran winning the Jefferson Cup on Sept. 30 at Churchill Downs, he won’t be without a chance in the 2023 Mile – provided he gets into the race.

More Than Looks is light on qualifying points, with just six, but of the solid Mile starters as of this week, only five horses either qualified through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series or have more points than More Than Looks.

Strong Promise will attempt to remain perfect in four career starts Friday night, when he makes the move to two turns for the $100,000 Louisiana Legacy at Delta Downs.

The seven-furlong race for 2-year-olds shares a card with its counterpart for fillies, the $100,000 Louisiana Jewel. Both races are restricted to horses bred in Louisiana.