The field for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies includes three entrants – Angela Renee, Cristina’s Journey, and Puca – who already have won at the race distance of 1 1/16 miles. Angela Renee and Cristina’s Journey’s wins came at the graded stakes level, and the former’s score in the Grade 1 Chandelier at Santa Anita on Sept. 27 will likely make her the favorite in the Juvenile Fillies. What’s more, that filly’s bloodlines make her even more formidable in the race that will likely determine year-end divisional championship honors.

Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farm has shone at the Breeders’ Cup, capturing four races with homebreds. The operation has an excellent chance to add another victory with Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf entrant Commemorative. The Zamindar colt is from the family of several high-class turf routers, including two of Juddmonte’s champions.

Given European shippers’ past history of dominance in Breeders’ Cup races contested on turf, those handicapping Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies turf must give primary consideration to the quartet of 2-year-old fillies making the trip across the pond to the Santa Anita starting gate. Several members of the group have already won or placed in stakes overseas, and sport pedigrees highly slanted toward turf success.

ARCADIA, Calif. – There were 174 horses entered in this year’s Breeders’ Cup races, and since all are running in Grade 1 races, it would stand to reason that just about every one looks fantastic. Some, though, stand out more than others, and if a list of finalists for a beauty contest were put out this week, Untapable undoubtedly would be on that shortlist.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Breeders’ Cup never is far from Mike Smith’s mind.

The Hall of Fame jockey seldom encounters a group of racing fans without someone mentioning his win on the famous mare Zenyatta in the 2009 BC Classic at Santa Anita.

“It’s just kind of out there,” Smith said on a recent morning between workouts at Santa Anita.

Of Smith’s record 20 wins in Breeders’ Cup races, Zenyatta’s victory stands out, even five years later.

“It seems to be extra special because it was here,” he said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The tallest participants in the Breeders’ Cup Classic are Rashard Lewis, the two-time NBA All-Star who is a co-owner of Cigar Street, and Tonalist, who is looking to end his season with an emphatic slam dunk Saturday.

Tonalist, the winner of the Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup, arrived here late Tuesday and went to the track for the first time Wednesday morning with exercise rider Lee Vickers. He merely jogged, but against the backdrop of the nearby San Gabriel Mountains, he looked like one of the peaks.

This year, the Breeders’ Cup designated 45 races in the United States and Canada as Win and You’re In races, awarding the winner an automatic starting berth in a designated Breeders’ Cup race while waiving the race’s entry fees. Another 26 races in overseas locations drew the same designation.

Of the winners of the 45 Breeders’ Cup Challenge races in the U.S. and Canada, 35 were entered in Breeders’ Cup races. Of the 26 overseas races, only three winners were pre-entered, and two of the three were from South America.

With the elimination of the Juvenile Sprint last year and the Marathon this year, Breeders’ Cup Friday is down to four races, and they are largely devoid of championship implications. They do, however, comprise a very playable pick four that concludes with a showdown between two fillies who probably have already clinched Eclipse Awards.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trick or treat?

For this year’s 31st Breeders’ Cup, despite the inevitable disappointments of who isn’t here, the bag of candy on offer at Santa Anita is overflowing.

Wise Dan could not make it. But California Chrome is here. Beholder had to drop out. But Untapable is here. That gives this two-day affair a strong link to the biggest weekend of the first half of the year, with the Kentucky Derby winner and Kentucky Oaks winner running on consecutive afternoons.

ARCADIA, Calif. – In the weeks and months leading into the Breeders’ Cup, there have been a number of impressive efforts turned in by some of the leading candidates. Few, however, have matched the “wow” factor elicited by Artemis Agrotera in her last three starts.

A 3-year-old New York-bred filly, Artemis Agrotera became a major contender for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint by reeling off blowout victories in a July 23 allowance and the Aug. 23 Ballerina at Saratoga, followed by a narrow “How’d she get there?” triumph in her final prep, the Sept. 20 Gallant Bloom at Belmont Park.