LEXINGTON, Ky. – Little Mike had his first breeze since his win in the Sept. 28 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic when going an easy five furlongs in 1:03 on Saturday over a fast main track at Churchill Downs. Little Mike, along with three of his Dale Romans-trained stablemates, was booked on an equine charter flight Monday to Southern California, where they will resume preparations at Santa Anita for the Nov. 1-2 Breeders’ Cup.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Doug O’Neill had considered 3-year-old filly Wittgenstein an outside candidate for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. Then, he checked her status with the Breeders’ Cup.O’Neill said on Friday that Wittgenstein is not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup, meaning owners Paul and Zillah Reddam would have to pay a $100,000 nomination fee before the pre-entries are due on Oct. 21 to start in the BC Distaff.

Wittgenstein starts on Sunday in an optional claimer at a mile at Santa Anita which will determine her Breeders’ Cup status.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The winners of the off-the-turf Shadwell Turf Mile and Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland last weekend both will still receive a credit for entry fees into Breeders’ Cup races even though the races automatically lost their Win and You’re In designation after being moved to the main track, Breeders’ Cup officials said Friday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Barring a setback in her training, Close Hatches, a three-time graded stakes-winning 3-year-old filly, will run in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, trainer Bill Mott said Friday.

“She deserves a chance to be in there,” Mott said on an overcast fall morning at Belmont Park. “She will be.”

Close Hatches gives Mott a potent 1-2 punch for the Distaff, in which he also will run the race’s two-time defending winner, Royal Delta. Mott has won the Distaff five times, including the last three, when it was called the Ladies’ Classic.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Reade Baker will send out three Bear Stables runners in Sunday’s Grade 1 Nearctic Stakes at six furlongs on turf, and he said Fatal Bullet, Bear No Joke, and Bear Tough Tiger all are capable of making their presence felt in the $300,000 race, which is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

“I’ve been pointing all three for the Nearctic,” Baker said. “I gave them all a break at the training center. Every one of them’s perfect.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Phil’s Dream has done no wrong after working fast before a race. He will try to keep his roll going Sunday at Woodbine in the Grade 1, $300,000 Nearctic, a six-furlong turf sprint that is the final Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In qualifier.

Phil’s Dream is owned and trained by Paul Buttigieg, who won the 1998 Nearctic with Rushiscomingup. He also finished a close third in the 2011 Nearctic with another 5-year-old gelding, Gypsy Ring.

Richard Mandella likes to think of himself as a man of the world. Or at least a man of the Thoroughbred racing world. The California native has run horses in the Orient, the Middle East, and South America. He has won major races in New York, Florida, Kentucky, and Chicago. Clearly, traveling never comes up as an issue.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Tightend Touchdown, who has gone from $35,000 claimer to stakes winner, will be pointed to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, trainer Jason Servis said Thursday.

Tightend Touchdown, a 4-year-old gelding by Pure Precision, won the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup at Penn National in June. He since has finished second in three consecutive turf stakes, including the Grade 3 Turf Monster at Parx on Labor Day.

“His last two races were on soft turf, and when he gets firm, he likes it a lot better,” Servis said. “He’s been real good for us.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – With an eye toward next year, trainer Shug McGaughey is taking a conservative route for the rest of Honor Code’s 2-year-old campaign.

McGaughey said Thursday that Honor Code, the runner-up to Havana in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 5, will skip the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 and instead be pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 30.

ELMONT,  N.Y. - Honor Code, runner-up to Havana in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park, will skip the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 and train up to the Grade 2, $400,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 30, trainer Shug McGaughey said Thursday.

McGaughey said the decision was made Wednesday afternoon following a discussion between himself and Will Farish, managing partner of Lane’s End Racing, which co-owns the colt with Dell Ridge Farm.