LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Cape Blanco, retired now, came and quickly conquered, shipping three times from Ireland to the United States and winning three of this country’s top grass races, the Man o’ War, the Arlington Million, and the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. Back home, Cape Blanco had finished sixth, fourth, and 13th the last three times he raced on turf.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Big Drama and trainer David Fawkes return to the scene of their finest hour Saturday at Churchill Downs when they try to defend their title in the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Keep studying. Cram if you need to. Examine every statistic and nuance you can find regarding the 14 horses in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, then make your best guess – like everyone else.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The license plate on his truck says South Dakota, so it’s obvious trainer Bill Mott, who grew up in tiny Mobridge, S.D., has not forgotten his roots. Though he now trains primarily in New York and Florida, it is Kentucky where Mott first gained fame. He has won more races than any trainer in the history of Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Any doubt how Uncle Mo might have bounced out of his relatively disappointing final work for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic on Sunday morning were erased the moment he stepped out onto the racetrack shortly after 6 a.m. here at Churchill Downs on Wednesday. He turned in an exhilarating training session during which he galloped as strong, as sound and as spectacularly as could be expected leading up to such a major event.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If there is a major stakes race for young colts at Churchill Downs, the partners in Skychai Racing are becoming a regular part of the action.

Six months ago, the group was represented in the Kentucky Derby with Twinspired, the Bluegrass Stakes runner-up, who would go on to finish 17th in the race. And now Skychai is back, this time with an entrant in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, having purchased a minority interest in Kentucky Cup Juvenile winner Hansen in late October.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Breeders’ Cup’s Friday and Saturday cards will once again be available this year to customers of Betfair, the British bet-matching operation, but none of the event’s 15 races will be simulcast in Hong Kong, according to the organization’s simulcasting consultant.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Turbulent Descent, the 3-year-old filly who figures as one of the heaviest favorites on the 15-race Breeders’ Cup card as the solid choice in the Filly and Mare Sprint, is entered as Hip No. 47 on Sunday at the Fasig-Tipton sale in Lexington, Ky., although her actually being walked through the sales ring is not expected to happen.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In stark contrast to 2010, this Breeders’ Cup week has so far been a no-drama turf-a-rama.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With all the serious work done for Saturday’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, there was just a little bit of fine tuning to take place at Churchill Downs on Wednesday, when Uncle Mo returned to the track after getting a day off, and Game On Dude and Rattlesnake Bridge both made their first appearances on the track after arriving Tuesday.