The Factor, one of trainer Bob Baffert’s leading hopes for the Breeders’ Cup, zoomed seven furlongs in 1:22.20 at Santa Anita on Tuesday morning. Baffert said over the weekend that The Factor would be pre-entered for the BC Sprint and the BC Dirt Mile. The Hall of Fame trainer may have as many as 10 starters in the Breeders’ Cup.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Smiling Tiger and Unzip Me, California-based sprinters who finished third in Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs in 2010, will not be making return engagements for Breeders’ Cup races in Kentucky on Nov. 5, their respective trainers said.

They were not pre-entered on Monday, when such entries were due. The Breeders’ Cup was scheduled to announce the pre-entered runners on Wednesday.

LEXINGTON, Ky – The daily workout reports for the 2011 Breeders’ Cup began Sunday at Churchill Downs and will continue through Thursday, Nov. 3. The action quickly shifted into high gear Monday morning at Keeneland, where one of the year’s best stories, Havre de Grace, worked five furlongs as a prelude to her battle against the boys in the Classic just 12 days down the road.

Trainer Chad Brown said Monday that he pre-entered four horses for this year’s Breeders’ Cup, but the undefeated Awesome Feather, last year’s year champion 2-year-old filly, was not one of them.

Brown said in the end he and owner Frank Stronach felt that running in the Ladies’ Classic off one race in a year was asking too much. Instead, Awesome Feather will train up to the Grade 1 Gazelle at Aqueduct on Nov. 26.

Awesome Feather won the Le Slew Stakes on Oct. 5, her first start since winning the BC Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs last year for previous connections.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Havre de Grace, the leading lady of the 2011 Breeders’ Cup, worked five furlongs in 58.57 seconds over the very glib Polytrack surface Monday morning at Keeneland in her penultimate work prior to her appearance in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Claiming Crown or Breeders’ Cup?

It’s not a question connections often have to wrestle with, but owner Thomas La Marca and trainer Bruce Brown spent the better part of Sunday and Monday debating the subject as it pertains to their 5-year-old New York-bred Compliance Officer, who won his fifth consecutive race in Saturday’s $125,000 Mohawk at Belmont Park.

With the Nov. 4-5 Breeders’ Cup right around the corner, Churchill Downs is trying to preserve its seven-furlong turf course as best it can. After months of keeping horses off the course, workouts began Monday morning over a turf rated good by the clockers, and as horses breezed, squishing noises and divots could be plainly heard and seen.

Caracortado works five furlongs

Caracortado, the winner of the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile in August, worked five furlongs in 1:00 on Sunday for the BC Turf Sprint. A 4-year-old gelding, Caracortado galloped out six furlongs in 1:14, according to trainer and co-owner Mike Machowsky.

ARCADIA, Calif., - California Flag, the winner of the 2009 BC Turf Sprint, will be pre-entered for this year’s running on Nov. 5, trainer Brian Koriner said on Sunday.

The winner of the Grade 3 Morvich Handicap on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on Oct. 10, California Flag worked a half-mile in 48 seconds on the main track on Sunday. Koriner timed California Flag in 47 seconds after a horse from a different barn joined the workout shortly after the exercise began.

“They went head-and-head for three furlongs,” Koriner said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Prayer for Relief, the winner of three graded stakes for 3-year-olds this summer, is likely to be pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5, trainer Bob Baffert said on Sunday.

Owned by Zayat Stables, Prayer for Relief was a troubled third in the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park on Oct. 16, racing in traffic on the inside and finishing three-quarters of a length behind the winner, Redeemed.