ARCADIA, Calif. – European 2-year-olds have been a dangerous group in the brief history of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

Since the race was first run in 2007, horses from England and Ireland have won five of the seven runnings, as well as two of the seven editions of the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.

No wonder they have arrived in force for the same races Friday at Santa Anita. There are five European colts entered for the Juvenile Turf and five fillies in the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Overall, there are 13 foreign runners in Friday’s four Breeders’ Cup races.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Magician, winner of the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Turf, was withdrawn from Saturday’s running of the BC Turf at Santa Anita because of lameness, trainer Aidan O’Brien said on Wednesday.

O’Brien said the lameness was detected in Magician’s right foreleg when he was taken out of his stall in the quarantine barn.

“When he came out for a trot, he was acutely lame,” O’Brien said. “It’s very disappointing. We were looking forward to it.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – What fun it would be to come out swinging on Breeders’ Cup Friday with creative handicapping and “beat-the-favorite” strategy in all four BC races. But darn, favorites Goldencents (Dirt Mile) and Untapable (Distaff) mess it all up. Or do they?

Goldencents is the most heavily favored BC runner Friday. He looks like a slam dunk. Goldencents is the main speed on a surface kind to his style. His current form is Grade 1 sharp; he won the Dirt Mile a year ago.

Goldencents is the 7-5 favorite on the Daily Racing Form odds line.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Free as a Bird, a winner of five consecutive sprint stakes this year, was withdrawn from Saturday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita after she became upset on an airplane in Kentucky early Wednesday, trainer Ian Wilkes said.

Wilkes said Free as a Bird became unsettled when the plane’s engines were started.

“When they started the engines, she went off,” he said. “They had no choice but to take her off. The horse comes first.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Horse trainers are people, too, which explains why Wesley Ward will not be here at Santa Anita this weekend for the Breeders’ Cup.

Despite having six scheduled starters, including several strong contenders, Ward will be watching the races on an iPad in south Florida, where his 15-year-old son, Riley James, will be competing in a high-school cross-country meet.

“It’s really important to him that I be there,” Ward said. “It just so happens that this meet conflicts every year with the Breeders’ Cup. I’ve missed it the last three years.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Goldencents absolutely blitzed them last year, easily winning the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with a brazen show of early speed.

A year later, Goldencents returns to the Dirt Mile as quite possibly the heaviest favorite in any of the 13 Breeders’ Cup races to be run this weekend at Santa Anita. He will start from the favorable rail post and is likely to employ familiar tactics while facing eight others Friday in the eighth running of the $1 million Dirt Mile.

MIKE WATCHMAKER

ARCADIA, Calif. – With a win and two seconds in four tries in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, trainer Chad Brown believes he has an idea of what makes a horse competitive in the one-mile turf race.

In Lady Eli – one of four entrants Brown has in the sixth running of the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday at Santa Anita – Brown feels he has one with the right attributes to be successful.

MIKE WATCHMAKER

Mike Watchmaker