ARCADIA, Calif. – American Pharoah and Beholder, the top two ante-post choices for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Oct. 31, both worked just minutes apart Friday morning at Santa Anita, causing Richard Mandella, Beholder’s trainer, to remark, “We should have just worked them in company.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Cavorting can be pretty aggressive in her morning gallops, which is why trainer Kiaran McLaughlin doesn’t mind going a long time without working the multiple graded stakes-winning 3-year-old filly.

On Thursday, however, Cavorting got back to work in preparation for a start as the probable favorite in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, breezing four furlongs in 49.01 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.

It was Cavorting’s first breeze since she won the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes by three lengths Sept. 6 at Saratoga.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jakaby Jade arrived at Del Mar in August as the winner of a maiden race in England. She left Del Mar a stakes winner, courtesy of a victory in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf on Sept. 7.

A little more than three weeks removed from the Breeders’ Cup, and I’ve got Breeders’ Cup on the brain. It’s inevitable, going to Keeneland, seeing the facilities, and imagining what is to come.

And then we do those weekly summaries for Daily Racing Form, listing the leading contenders for each race. Take a look at those, and one can’t help but get jazzed for the races.

So, before I burst with excitement, here are some early thoughts on the Breeders’ Cup, some of which pass through my head as I head into the Keeneland facility quite regularly.

Confirm Tonalist as among the likely Breeders’ Cup Classic participants who can go north of a 110 Beyer Speed Figure after his third 110-plus number of 2015 – a 111 for his Jockey Club Gold Cup victory last Saturday. With Liam’s Map now headed for the Dirt Mile, I still count three others with the potential for a figure above 110 – Beholder, Honor Code, and American Pharoah. I know the Triple Crown winner has not gotten there yet, but the Haskell Invitational strongly suggested that he can. And to win the Classic, he will absolutely have to.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Putting her versatility and superiority on full display, Harmonize passed most of the field in a short span in coming through as a decisive favorite Wednesday in the 25th running of the Grade 3, $150,000 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland.

Although she was on or near the lead in her first two starts, Harmonize rallied from 12th in a field of 14 2-year-old fillies to finish a neck ahead of Sapphire Kitten on Wednesday. She returned $4 after completing the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:44.19 over a firm turf course.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For a race as prestigious as the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, its next-race impact on the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf has been negligible. Often, a filly or two per year has ventured on to the Breeders’ Cup, but the group has done little once there.

One Queen Elizabeth II winner, Perfect Sting, won the 2000 BC Filly and Mare Turf the year after she won the 1999 QE II, but her performance in the Breeders’ Cup during the year of her QE II triumph resulted in a sixth-place finish.

ELMONT, N.Y. – By electing not to run Tap to It in between her second-place finish in the Grade 1 Spinaway on Sept. 5 and the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 31, trainer Ralph Nicks needs the filly to get in some solid training during the morning.

On Wednesday, Tap to It put in a very solid-looking workout, drilling seven furlongs in 1:23.86 over Belmont Park’s main track under jockey Joel Rosario.

When Beholder tries to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland, it will be an especially big deal since Zenyatta in 2009 remains the only female Classic winner. Females in the Breeders’ Cup Mile? That’s old hat. A filly or mare has won eight of the 31 Miles, and it could happen again in 2015.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – History of a sort will be made Friday with the running of the seventh race, a $64,000 optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up: It’s the first one-mile race on the Keeneland main track.

The race is essentially a road test prior to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Oct. 30. With the 1 1/16-mile circumference of its main track, Keeneland never has contested races at a mile because of the short run into the first turn.