LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fifteen years after the Breeders’ Cup last offered future-book parimutuel wagering, Breeders’ Cup futures are finally back, beginning Friday at noon Eastern and continuing through Sunday. On tap this week for futures are the Classic and the Distaff, with others to come in the weeks ahead.

With the last experience a distant memory, bettors cannot rely on recent history for clues in analyzing the wager. Instead, traditional handicapping and long-term forecasting seem to be the soundest strategies.

Roaring Lion confirmed his status as Europe’s leading 3-year-old male, and one of the finest horses in training, with his second consecutive Group 1 win against older horses in Wednesday’s $1.27 million Juddmonte International at York Racecourse in England.

Ridden by Oisin Murphy, Roaring Lion (3-1) easily beat Poet’s Word, the dominant older male in England this summer, by 3 1/4 lengths in the race at 1 1/4 miles. Poet’s Word, the 8-5 favorite, encountered trouble with three furlongs to go and could not threaten the winner.

Parimutuel futures wagering on 23 individual interests and a field entry in both the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Breeders’ Cup Distaff will open on Friday and close on Sunday evening, the Breeders’ Cup announced on Wednesday.

The two pools will open nine weeks before the Nov. 2-3 Breeders’ Cup, to be held this year at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Accelerate, the runaway winner of last weekend’s Pacific Classic at Del Mar, is listed as the 4-1 morning-line favorite in the Classic, and Monomoy Girl, the winner of the Kentucky Oaks, is listed as the 7-2 favorite in the Distaff.

The two-day Breeders’ Cup event will return to Santa Anita Park near Los Angeles in 2019 and will then be held at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club near San Diego in the succeeding two years, the organization announced on Friday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Red Ruby has been sidelined since her July 7 victory in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks due to a fracture of a splint bone. But trainer Kellyn Gorder said Thursday that Red Ruby could return to the races this year and perhaps even make the Breeders’ Cup.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Beach View was scratched from the Pacific Classic on Saturday morning, leaving a field of seven for Del Mar's richest race of the season.

Trainer Leonard Powell announced on Twitter that Beach View injured the coronet band of his right front hoof. Beach View was coming off a victory in the Grade 3 Cougar II on July 25.

DEL MAR, Calif. – For all he has accomplished in his career – notably seven graded stakes wins in the last 17 months – Itsinthepost is winless in 10 starts at Del Mar.

Itsinthepost has been second three times at Del Mar, but the overall lack of success here is a concern for trainer Jeff Mullins in advance of Saturday’s Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf.

“I’m not convinced he really likes the course here,” Mullins said this week. “I don’t think it’s conducive to his running style. The corners are too sharp, and the stretch is too short.

Alpha Centauri confirmed her status as Europe’s leading turf miler with a comprehensive win against males in Sunday’s Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville, France.

Alpha Centauri’s win in the $1.14 million Prix Jacques le Marois could easily lead to a start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3. The race offered a fees-paid berth for the winner to the BC Mile.

Alpha Centauri is owned by the Niarchos family, which has a spectacular record in the BC Mile, having won a record six runnings, the most recent of which was Karakontie in 2014.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The weather forecast Saturday at Arlington is for sunshine.

The racing forecast calls for a Brown-out.

Chad Brown trains the heavy favorite for the Grade 1 Secretariat, Analyze It. He has four horses in the Grade 1 Beverly D., including the favored Sistercharlie. And in the Grade 1, $1 million Arlington Million, a race Brown has won twice, including last year with Beach Patrol, Brown starts three – Almanaar, Money Multiplier, and Robert Bruce – all with a real chance.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though Rick Violette has already shown it’s a trainer’s prerogative to change his mind, he seemed pretty certain Sunday morning that he would point Grade 1 Whitney Stakes winner Diversify to the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 29 and not the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 1.