One year after making Breeders’ Cup history by becoming the first woman to saddle the winner of the Classic, Kathy Ritvo is headed back to Santa Anita. Unfortunately, she is not returning with defending Classic champion Mucho Macho Man, who was retired this year, but with the lightly raced Sprint hopeful Fast Anna.

“Nobody will ever be like Mucho Macho Man, but it’s really exciting to be able to go back to the Breeders’ Cup with a horse I believe has exceptional talent and who has proven he belongs to be there,” Ritvo said.

Freddy Head wasn’t at the Breeders’ Cup last year, which was somewhat surprising since Head, the French jockey turned trainer, has taken part in 12 of the 30 Breeders’ Cups. Quite often, he can be found winning the Mile. He rode Miesque to Mile victories in 1987 and 1988 and trained the great Goldikova to Mile wins in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Goldikova was third in the 2011 Mile, Moonlight Cloud finished eighth in 2012, and Head was out of Breeders’ Cup action in 2013.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The top New York-based candidates for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff will be equine riddles if they ship to California later this month.

Close Hatches baffled everyone last Sunday at Keeneland, finishing fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes. Nonetheless, plans call for Close Hatches to run in the Distaff, Garrett O’Rourke, racing manager for her owner, Juddmonte Farms, said Wednesday.

Cristina’s Journey punched her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies by winning the Grade 2 Pocahontas at Churchill Downs on Sept. 6. She hasn’t raced since, but trainer Dale Romans is comfortable training her up to the Breeders’ Cup and plans to ship her to California on Monday.

With all the final major prep races completed for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, all that is left now is for the race’s prospects to complete their series of workouts for the Classic, and on Wednesday at Santa Anita, three Classic contenders worked for the first time since their most recent starts.

Bayern, who most recently captured the Pennsylvania Derby, as well as Majestic Harbor and Imperative – who both chased home Shared Belief last time out in the Awesome Again Stakes – all worked a half-mile at Santa Anita.

Given that Santa Anita has a new dirt track, it’s purely conjecture whether there will be a reprise of last year’s pronounced inside-speed bias on Breeders’ Cup Friday, one that helped the front-running Goldencents become the first Dirt Mile winner to stretch out successfully from a shorter race.

There are many paths to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, but at least two leading contenders for the Oct. 31 race at Santa Anita will be coming out of an unlikely prep.

International Star, trained by Mike Maker, and Conquest Typhoon, trained by Mark Casse, ran one-two last Sunday in the Grade 3 Grey Stakes on Polytrack at Woodbine. The horses landed in the race for different reasons, but according to their trainers, both will return to the grass for the Juvenile Turf.

The lone Grade 1 race in North America this weekend – Saturday’s $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland – is among the most prestigious grass races for 3-year-old fillies. But it doesn’t carry the Breeders’ Cup significance of races such as the Rodeo Drive and Flower Bowl, races for older mares that serve as the primary U.S. preps for the BC Filly and Mare Turf, which will be run Nov. 1 at Santa Anita.

Big Blue Kitten may be the lone representative in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trainer Chad Brown.

On Tuesday, Brown said Big Blue Kitten was “50-50” for the BC Turf, with the $1 million Canadian International at Woodbine on Oct. 19 also a consideration. Weather will play a significant role in the decision, Brown said. Both races are over 1 1/2 miles.

“We’ll monitor how the horse is doing and the weather,” Brown said. “I certainly wouldn’t want to run him in Canada if it was soft.”

Shared Belief, the ante-post favorite for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, worked a half-mile in 50.80 seconds on Tuesday morning at Golden Gate Fields, his first drill since overcoming an eventful trip to capture the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 27.

Russell Baze, the Hall of Fame jockey, was aboard for the drill for Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. Hollendorfer said everything went as planned with the work, and he would work Shared Belief weekly between now and his return to Santa Anita the week of the Breeders’ Cup.