There’s little question Chad Brown is winning the First Lady Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland. Hardly a hot take. Brown has sent out the First Lady winner six times and, remarkably, has won the last five renewals. He has last year’s winner, odds-on morning-line favorite In Italian, and another high-class performer in Whitebeam. Gina Romantica makes three Browns, and while she’s simply not as fast as Brown’s big two, Gina Romantica did win the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup over the Keeneland turf course a year ago.

The problem with European sprinters coming to America generally is twofold: They don’t break from the gate especially well, and they lack experience racing around turns. Neither applies to Live In The Dream, who could be a standout Saturday in the Grade 2, $350,000 Woodford Stakes at Keeneland.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Larry Demeritte watched the Kentucky Derby while growing up in the Bahamas, following in the footsteps of his father to become a Thoroughbred trainer there. And so he relocated to Kentucky some four decades-plus ago, for proximity to chase that dream.

OZONE PARK, N.Y – A few hours after Rebel’s Romance attempts to regain his winning form in the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Stakes, his 3-year-old half-brother, Measured Time, will look to stay unbeaten when he makes his North American debut in the Grade 3, $500,000 Jockey Club Derby Invitational at Aqueduct.

Measured Time has only run three times, none in a group event. Yet when asked to compare Measured Time to Rebel’s Romance at the same stage of their careers, trainer Charlie Appleby said, “He’s a sleeker model.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In the last seven runnings of the Champagne Stakes, trainer Chad Brown has four wins and two seconds. In the seven runnings of the Champagne previous to that, trainer Todd Pletcher had four wins and one second.

Naturally, Brown and Pletcher will be front and center for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne at Aqueduct when Brown sends out General Partner and Pletcher will counter with Fierceness in a field of eight 2-year-olds looking to earn a fees-paid berth into the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.

This has been a perfect year so far for the 3-year-old filly Anisette, who is unbeaten in three starts in the United States, including two graded stakes at the Del Mar summer meeting.

It has not been a perfect year for the outstanding older mare Didia, who was withdrawn from a key start in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes at Colonial Downs on Aug. 12 after sustaining a cut on her head in the weeks before the race that needed a few stitches.

Coming into Saturday’s $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes at five furlongs on turf at Santa Anita, the closest Slider has gotten to a start on turf was the also-eligible list of a maiden race on Aug. 24 at Del Mar.

Slider failed to draw into the race, but won a maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs on dirt by a convincing three lengths on Sept. 9.

The win has led to the Speakeasy Stakes, designed as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at five furlongs on turf Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The seven-time stakes-winning millionaire Wicked Halo has been incredibly consistent throughout her career, and her accomplishments loom large as she comes to the Grade 2, $350,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland. However, she was the beaten favorite last time out and will have to rebound against some of the same foes, including the upwardly mobile Yuugiri.

The Thoroughbred Club of America, which has a field of seven, is a “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The quickest 2-year-old colt in California poses a dilemma Saturday at Santa Anita, where he stretches to two turns in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes.

Muth might be the biggest cinch on a Saturday card with four Breeders’ Cup prep races. Or, Muth might be the most vulnerable favorite on the 10-race program. Take your pick. Since betting horses is a risk-versus-reward pastime, there are reasons to look beyond the chalk.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Although Joe Catanese was the trainer of record for her first seven starts, Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey had her this summer, and she now resides in the barn of David Fawkes, nobody knows Maryquitecontrary better than exercise rider Lisa Bartkowski, who believes the Grade 2 winner is ready to get back to her winning ways in Saturday’s $200,000 Princess Rooney Invitational at Gulfstream Park.