LEXINGTON, Ky. – While her 13 rivals had varying degrees of trouble or simply were found wanting, Wonder Wheel led them all on a merry chase Friday when holding on for a narrow victory in the Grade 1, $497,337 Alcibiades Stakes as Keeneland kicked off its 2022 fall meet amid brilliant fall weather.

Wonder Wheel, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, “had a great trip, while some of the others might not have,” said trainer Mark Casse, who was winning the Alcibiades for the fourth time. “This ought to set us up for the next one.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Delight appeared to do just that in her trip around the Keeneland turf course on Friday afternoon. The filly controlled the tempo with her ears pricked down the backstretch and gladly turned on the afterburners when asked, coasting to a five-length victory in the Grade 2, $350,000 Jessamine Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Cat Daddy is going back to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, thanks to an improbable stretch run Friday by Manny Wah in the Grade 2, $350,000 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland.

“It’s what we’re all in this business for – these big races,” said an elated Wayne Catalano, widely known as Cat Daddy or Cat Man to his countless racetrack friends.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It is not Graham Motion’s modus operandi to run a horse back in two weeks, but when you train a horse that may be Breeders’ Cup worthy, sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone.

“It’s that time of year, right?” Motion said.

Indeed it is. That’s why Motion will run Nagirroc in Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Futurity Stakes at Aqueduct, and a win by him or any of the seven horses in the field earns a fees-paid berth into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 4 at Keeneland.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The leading 3-year-old filly Nest will ease her way into facing her elders when she starts as a prohibitive favorite against four opponents in Sunday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Beldame Stakes at Aqueduct, a stop on the way to meeting faster foes in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Nov. 5.

Comanche Country left Del Mar last month with a perfect record in the United States after two starts. If she maintains her perfect record in this country on Sunday at Santa Anita, she is likely bound for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 4 at Keeneland.

The Surfer Girl is the last leg of an early pick five that features a $406,147 carryover on Sunday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Boppy O and Andthewinneris were both precocious debut winners in the spring who tried stakes company on dirt before stretching out on turf this summer at Saratoga. The result was a neck win in the Grade 3 With Anticipation for Boppy O, with Andthewinneris a creditable third.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fausto Gutierrez says he hasn’t thought about whether the Breeders’ Cup Distaff next month at Keeneland will be the final start for Letruska.

“First we concentrate on this one,” said Gutierrez, who trains Letruska for the St George Stable of owner-breeder German Larrea. “This is a very, very important race Sunday.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Elite Power may be late to the scene as far as making it to stakes company, but his timing couldn’t be better when he makes his stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Vosburgh at Aqueduct.

The five-horse Vosburgh typically has come up with short fields but usually due to having a standout sprinter in the race. There is no such standout Saturday, which is why Elite Power figures to go favored despite having never run in a stakes race.

ARCADIA, Calif. – You can’t see it, hidden from view on the far turn at Santa Anita.

It’s an unseen blockade that the juvenile sprinters stretching to 1 1/16 miles on Saturday will not recognize until too late. For some, the distance barrier is impenetrable.

“The second turn, it hits them and it’s like an invisible wall,” trainer Bob Baffert said.