ARCADIA, Calif. – As if he needed anything else in his favor, Goldencents was assigned the favorable rail post when a field of 10 older horses was drawn Monday afternoon at Santa Anita for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Wesley Ward is winless with 16 Breeders’ Cup starters, but he will send out the favorite, Sunset Glow, in Friday’s $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita.

Sunset Glow, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante in August, drew post 3 and was installed as the 7-2 morning-line favorite in a race that drew 16 entrants. Only 14 will be permitted to run in the one-mile race. Flying Tipat and War Alert were assigned to the also-eligible list and will need a scratch by 8 a.m. Pacific on Friday in order to run.

ARCADIA, Calif. – In the early fall of 2013, Imagining was considered a candidate for the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita until he finished sixth in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park.

Trainer Shug McGaughey opted to keep Imagining in New York, where the horse won consecutive stakes at Belmont Park and Aqueduct.

This year, Imagining is headed across the country. When post positions were drawn Monday, Imagining was one of five Eastern-based runners among the 13 entrants. There are five European runners and three from Southern California.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Like the rest of her colleagues with a horse in Saturday’s $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint, trainer Kathy Ritvo held her breath during the post-position draw. The Sprint is arguably the one race among the 13 Breeders’ Cup events to be decided this weekend at Santa Anita for which post position is likely to have the most impact on the outcome.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The biggest mystery of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare has little to with post position and everything to do with current form.

Dank returned $5 as a popular winner of the 2013 Filly and Mare Turf, but her odds will be higher when she faces 10 rivals Saturday in the 1 1/4-mile turf race.

Since winning the race a year ago, Dank has started twice. She finished third by eight lengths in Dubai and was fifth in June at Ascot. If Dank does start favored again this year, her support will be tepid.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Tightend Touchdown may not be the same horse who finished second in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.

Trainer Jason Servis expressed concern Monday about whether the 5-year-old gelding can be as effective when he makes a return trip to California from New York for Saturday’s $1 million BC Turf Sprint.

“I think he was keener last year,” Servis said. “He got a real bad virus in March. I don’t know if he’s gotten over that.”

SANTA ANITA
Main track: Fast
Turf: Firm
Weather: Hazy, 64 degrees

ARCADIA, Calif. – Monday marked the final busy morning for Breeders’ Cup workers at Santa Anita, with the emphasis on speed, as five of the 14 prospective starters in the Sprint turned in their final major tune-ups for the event, including defending champion Secret Circle and his speedy stablemate, Indianapolis.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Last year’s trip to the Breeders’ Cup proved not to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for trainer Leah Gyarmati.

The former jockey turned trainer came to Santa Anita in 2013 with Sweet Reason, who finished fourth as the 5-2 favorite in the Juvenile Fillies. Gyarmati has returned to Southern California for the second straight year and again will participate in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies with the New York-bred Wonder Gal. For good measure, Gyarmati has brought back Sweet Reason to run in the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The five French horses who stepped onto the Santa Anita main track at about 10 a.m. Monday might as well have been walking over the surface of the moon. In France, there is training on turf and training on all-weather surfaces, but very few horses – and certainly not Grade 1-caliber animals like this quintet – will ever train on dirt.

The Monday exercise, however, barely could be classified as training: The horses, going together, never got out of a jog and didn’t even make an entire loop of the Santa Anita oval.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Eddie Plesa Jr. wasn’t singing the trainer’s familiar refrain of “it was just what we wanted” following Souper Colossal’s super-fast half-mile workout in 45.57 seconds Monday at Santa Anita in preparation for Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

“It wasn’t ideal. I would much rather go too slow than too fast,” said Plesa, who added that he was looking for a half-mile in 48 or 49 seconds.