LEXINGTON, Ky. – Not that she needs any help as the only graded stakes winner in the field, but Fashion Alert was assigned the favorable rail slot for Friday’s 63rd running of the Grade 1, $400,000 Darley Alcibiades Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race on the new dirt track at Keeneland.

“We’re really looking forward to seeing her stretch out,” said Todd Pletcher, the future Hall of Fame trainer who has sent about 25 horses here for the Keeneland and Churchill Downs fall meets. “She has always trained like she’ll appreciate the added ground.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Not all the prospective runners in Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 are running in glamorous stakes races across the nation a month before the big races.

On Friday at Santa Anita, Pontchatrain, the winner of four consecutive stakes from September 2013 until February of this year, returns from an ankle injury to start in a third-level optional $75,000 claimer over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.

Of the trio of 2-year-olds who won major turf stakes over the weekend, Imperia might be the only one advancing to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 31. He won his maiden Sunday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Pilgrim at Belmont Park. 

Elm Park, who on Saturday accounted for the Group 2 Royal Lodge at Newmarket, a Win and You’re In race for the BC Juvenile Turf, and Ol’ Man River, the winner of the Group 2 Beresford at The Curragh on Sunday, were leaning in different directions as of Monday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – In a year, Bright Thought has gone from being a completely overmatched longshot in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Mile to one with an outsider’s chance for the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

Last year, Bright Thought started in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, his first race since the preceding March. He finished last of 10 behind Wise Dan at 25-1.

It was all quiet on the Breeders’ Cup Mile front this past weekend, but the division blazes back to life Saturday and Sunday with action in Kentucky, California, and France.

Wise Dan, the BC Mile winner in each of the last two years, continues to lead the Mile rankings, but his position is more precarious than in recent years, and he could be in for a challenge from Seek Again on Saturday at Keeneland in the Shadwell Turf Mile.

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This past Saturday’s Grade 1 preps for the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita helped clarify the picture regarding the leading U.S. prospects.

Stephanie’s Kitten in the Flower Bowl at Belmont and Emollient in the Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita each won as the favorite and earned expense-paid berths in the Filly and Mare Turf.

The runners-up in the two races also proved that they fit in the Breeders’ Cup. Abaco rallied to lose by 1 1/4 lengths in the Flower Bowl, while Parranda tested Emollient to the end in the Rodeo Drive, falling a half-length short.

Private Zone stamped himself as a major contender for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint after successfully defending his title with a game victory over Dads Caps in Saturday’s Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park. But the question still remained: Who will saddle Private Zone in the Sprint?

Would it be Doug O’Neill, who has done such an outstanding job handling the horse since he came to the United States from Panama two years ago, or Alfredo Velazquez, the trainer of record for Private Zone when he won the Vosburgh last weekend at Belmont?

After barely holding third in a three-way photo behind Vyjack and River Rocks as the odds-on choice and highweight in Saturday’s Grade 2 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park, Itsmyluckyday will not be supplemented to either the Breeders’ Cup Classic or Dirt Mile and will await the Grade 1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 29.

The Cigar Mile also will be the next start for the Aqueduct-based Vyjack, who earned a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure in notching his first stakes win since the 2013 Gotham.

The last two major preps toward the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint are set for Saturday, with the Thoroughbred Club of America at Keeneland and the L.A. Woman at Santa Anita.

Although none of the potential top favorites – Artemis Agrotera, Midnight Lucky, and Judy the Beauty – will have another race before the Breeders’ Cup, the Grade 2 TCA and Grade 3 L.A. Woman could combine to produce a handful of starters for the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Victories by Shared Belief in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita and Tonalist in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Saturday further strengthened the already-strong hold that 3-year-olds appear to have on the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Those two, combined with Bayern, the winner of the Haskell Invitational and Pennsylvania Derby, and California Chrome, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, could very well be the top four choices in the Classic on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita.