ARCADIA, Calif. – While the post position draw for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Santa Anita turned out well for Game On Dude, the placing of Moreno vis-à-vis the other potential speed in the race left trainer Eric Guillot believing his options had been compromised.

Moreno ended up in post 4 when posts were drawn Monday afternoon, with Fort Larned, last year’s Classic winner, in post 7, and Game On Dude, the morning-line favorite, in post 9. Those three have the most natural speed of the 12 runners in the 1 1/4-mile Classic.

For those who value local knowledge, there have been six runnings of the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park, with number seven poised for Friday and Saturday. They have had a few things in common – the mountains, forest fires, early post times, Arnold Schwarzenegger – and each Santa Anita version has presented the seven original Breeders’ Cup races, plus a few extras in recent years. All this makes for lively conversation over drinks at Nola’s new Santa Anita clubhouse bar since everyone has got their Santa Anita favorites among those six. These are mine:

ARCADIA, Calif. – The last two races turned in by Obviously, one of North America’s best turf milers the past two seasons, were subpar by his standards, providing grounds on which to wonder if Obviously is doing quite as well as he was one year ago, when he finished a gallant third in the Breeders’ Cup Mile behind Wise Dan and Animal Kingdom.

His trainer, Mike Mitchell, almost certainly is in a better place.

Allen Aldrich thought he’d hit the horse racing heights when he saddled Steel Blue to win the Humboldt County Marathon in 2011. On Saturday, Aldrich will truly hit the big time as part-owner of She’s a Tiger, a contender in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita.

Aldrich, who maintains his trainer’s license, owns 25 percent of She’s a Tiger thanks to the insistence of old friend Jeff Bonde, who trains the filly.

The two went to high school together in Pleasanton, Calif., and their grandmothers were best friends.

With more chances for good horses to run for more money, racing in the Mid-Atlantic region has undergone a sea change in recent years. Two years ago, Afleet Again went from the Parx Racing backstretch to win the Breeders’ Cup Marathon at Churchill Downs. Last year, Trinniberg ran second in the Gallant Bob at Parx before winning the BC Sprint at Santa Anita.

Horses that have run and won at the Mid-Atlantic tracks are all over the 14 Breeders’ Cup races, to be run Friday and Saturday at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Few people have had as diverse a life in racing as Willie Carson.

Carson, 71 was the champion jockey in Britain five times from 1971 to 1983. He bred Minster Son, the winner of the 1988 English St. Leger, and was a commentator on the BBC’S television racing coverage until last year.

Carson also is a part-owner of Chriselliam, who starts in Friday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita, fresh from a win in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket on Sept. 27.

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ARCADIA, Calif. – Royal Delta will start the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff from directly inside pace rival Beholder, a draw that is likely to dictate a front-running strategy for the two-time Distaff winner.

Royal Delta starts from post 4 and Beholder from post 5 in a six-horse field that includes four Grade 1 winners. While the tempo of the race will be determined by the front-runners, Princess of Sylmar could tuck into a perfect trip from post 6.

ARCADIA, Calif. –  After a morning that went ideally for Game On Dude with his final workout, co-owner  Bernie Schiappa anxiously awaited the draw on Monday afternoon for the post positions for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. There was an audible sigh of relief from him when Game On Dude landed post 9 in the field of 12 for the Classic on Saturday at Santa Anita.

Game On Dude has a tendency to break a half-step slow, so an inside draw, in a large field, might have been problematic. From post 9, Game On Dude will be in the clear. He still, however, has to be good enough.

ARCADIA, Calif. - There is something about the Breeders’ Cup Mile that bears repeating – namely, the race’s winner.

Four times in the Mile’s history has the previous year’s winner come home first again. Only four other Breeders’ Cup races have produced so much as a single back-to-back winner, and only the Distaff, with two, has seen more than one winner in consecutive years.