Mark Casse is knocking on the trunk of the tree outside his barn at Keeneland. Knocking on the wooden sawhorse with red saddle towels draped over it at the end of the shed row. Knocking on anything he can find, really.

Fletcher and Carolyn Gray have tasted Breeders’ Cup success from afar, as the breeders of 2008 Juvenile Fillies winner and champion Stardom Bound. This year, however, they could be in the thick of things in the winner’s circle. Their homebred I’m a Chatterbox has gone from auction failure to carrying the Grays’ colors as one of the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

"It's like watching one of your kids go to the Olympics," Carolyn Gray said.

Few owners at this Breeders’ Cup have risen farther or faster than the LNJ Foxwoods operation of Larry and Nanci Roth and their daughter Jaime.

American Pharoah took his last flight out of California on Tuesday morning and has arrived back at his old Kentucky home, essentially for good. American Pharoah will make his last start on Saturday in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kiaran McLaughlin wasn’t trying to be funny after finding out that a 3-year-old has never won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint despite 24 attempts, including four losing favorites.

“Well, this is a case where 1 for 25 is going to look pretty good,” he said.

The Breeders’ Cup late pick four sequence Saturday that ends with the Classic might be the marquee 50-cent multirace exotics offering of the weekend. But in reality, this sequence is potentially one of the least-interesting pick-whatever sequences on Friday and Saturday at Keeneland. And that is because two of the four heaviest favorites in the 13 Breeders’ Cup events – Golden Horn and American Pharoah – are in Saturday’s late pick four sequence.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Start with the names.

“Golden Horn” evinces society’s upper crust.

“The Pizza Man” prompts the question: Thick or thin crust?

Golden Horn was bred in England, The Pizza Man in Illinois. Golden Horn’s owner, Anthony Oppenheimer, was a director of the diamond titan De Beers. The Pizza Man is owned by Midwest Thoroughbreds, whose principal, Rich Papiese, grew up in East Chicago.

At 3, Golden Horn won the English Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. At 3, The Pizza Man won the Tex’s Zing and the Buck’s Boy.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Winning one Breeders’ Cup Juvenile was a fantasy for trainer Keith Desormeaux. Winning two straight? Well, it’s not that far-fetched.

A year after his Texas Red pulled a 13-1 upset in the Juvenile at Santa Anita, Desormeaux has brought two runners to Keeneland for this year’s $2 million Juvenile, and at least one, Exaggerator, has a realistic chance of winning.

A limited number of tickets for the Breeders’ Cup this weekend in two premium areas of the Keeneland grandstand were made available for purchase on Tuesday.

The tickets are for seats in the Phoenix Dining Room on the fourth floor of the grandstand and for loge box seats, which are outdoors near the finish line in temporary, elevated structures. The Breeders’ Cup said the seats became available after the organization had filled its orders from horsemen for tickets, leaving “limited” tickets left over.