ARCADIA, Calif.- Bal a Bali and Stellar Wind had secure reputations long before wins in Grade 1 stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Bal a Bali, who won Saturday’s $400,690 Shoemaker Mile on turf, won the 2014 Rio Triple Crown in Brazil. Stellar Wind, who won the $368,000 Beholder Mile on dirt, was the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015.

Even with those accomplishments, their respective trainers – Richard Mandella and John Sadler – had common thoughts on Sunday morning. Both think their runners could be in career-best form.

The Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf came onto the scene in 1999 under pressure from owners and breeders who were frustrated that they had championship-quality horses with no place to run on racing’s most important day.

They were right.

The race has tested some of the best females in the world over the turf courses of eight different American tracks. Of the 18 runnings, 11 have been offered at 1 1/4 miles, seven at 1 3/8 miles, and one – the Keeneland running – at 1 3/16 miles.

More than three years have gone by since Isla Bonita won the Grade 1 Japanese 2000 Guineas.

The now-6-year-old horse has lost seven subsequent starts in Grade 1 races, a streak that could end in Sunday’s Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen at a mile on turf at Tokyo Racecourse. Isla Bonita is expected to be favored in the $1,817,540 Yasuda Kinen, which drew a field of 18.

The race could have Breeders’ Cup implications. The winner will receive a fees-paid berth in the BC Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 4 if nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bal a Bali won the Triple Crown in Brazil, overcame a scary bout with laminitis, and became a Grade 1 winner in the United States this year.

Bal a Bali, 7, has never started in a Breeders’ Cup race. There is hope that this might be the year.

In March, Bal a Bali won his most prestigious race in the United States, the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf at Santa Anita, and on Saturday, he runs on turf here in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile. The winner receives a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 4.

Two races on the Breeders’ Cup card this year will be run at non-traditional distances due to the configuration of the Del Mar turf course, Breeders’ Cup announced on Wednesday.

The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint will be run at five furlongs this year, while the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Turf will be run at 1 1/8 miles, the shortest distance for the race since it was added to the event in 1999. The other 11 Breeders’ Cup races on the two-day card scheduled for Nov. 3-4 will be run at their traditional distances, including the four other turf races, Breeders’ Cup said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - A move to sprints has redefined Ransom the Moon’s career this spring, and launched discussions regarding which races to use as a goal this summer and fall.

Ransom the Moon won his stakes debut in the Grade 2 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on Saturday and is a candidate for the Grade 2 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs on July 1.

“I think the seven-eighths distance will suit him very well,” trainer Phil D’Amato said.

After that, owner Mark Martinez and Jeffry Wilke and D’Amato may have a decision to make.

Zhukova, the filly who dominated the boys by six lengths in Saturday’s Grade 1 Man o’ War at Belmont, is due to fly back to Ireland on Thursday. However, her connections are intending a return trip to the U.S. in the fall and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Mark Weld, the assistant to his father, Dermot, trainer of Zhukova, said the filly “deserves a shot” at the Breeders’ Cup, which will be held this year at Del Mar.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The 4-year-old colt Collected is progressing so rapidly this spring that co-owner Peter Fluor has aspirations of a start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 4.

Saturday, Collected won his second race of the year, and fifth career stakes, in the Grade 2 Californian Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita. Ridden by Martin Garcia for trainer Bob Baffert, Collected was always near the front and drew off to win by 3 3/4 lengths as the 3-5 favorite.

“This was a big race for him,” Fluor said in the winner’s circle.

Eighty-one stakes races this year, including 49 scheduled at North American racetracks, will offer automatic berths in Breeders’ Cup races this year, according to the organization, with seven of the races providing the winner with a guaranteed starting slot in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Breeders’ Cup will limit ticket sales to 37,500 attendees for each day of the two-day event this year on Nov. 3-4 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club near San Diego, the company announced on Tuesday.