Last Sunday’s Grade 2 Nashua Stakes and Grade 3 Tempted Stakes at Belmont Park were repositioned on New York’s stakes calendar and shortened to six furlongs to make them viable preps toward the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint on Nov. 4.

Yet only one of those two races, the Nashua, seems likely to generate many Juvenile Sprint starters.

At least three runners from that race are expected to return in the Juvenile Sprint, led by the winner, Vexor, who won the race by three-quarters of a length over the non-Breeders’ Cup-nominated Trinniberg.

Pure Gossip, Slip Along Band, and Dayatthespa are all legitimate contenders for the Grade 2, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 4, but to play each of their camps will have to pay $100,000 to make them eligible for the race. None of the fillies are Breeders’ Cup-nominated, which creates a six-figure question that must be answered by the date of pre-entries Oct. 24.

For the first time since early summer 2008, mighty Goldikova has lost two races in a row, and while the mare is far from washed-up, her defeat in the Prix de la Foret on Sunday in Paris lends hope to her potential rivals in the Breeders’ Cup Mile next month at Churchill Downs.

While most of the hopefuls for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint already have had their final preps, there’s still one more race that should have an impact on the composition of the lineup for the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint: the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes, a Win and You’re In event on the blockbuster Saturday card at Keeneland.

Daddy Nose Best will train up to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf off his deceptively good effort in the Grade 3 Summer Stakes at Woodbine and could be a live longshot in the Grade 1 stakes.

The Sept. 17 Summer, which was run over a mile around one turn, featured a slow pace that benefited the top two finishers, Finale and Excaper. Daddy Nose Best, who rallied for third under Julien Leparoux, was the only one to make up significant ground.

Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, said Daddy Nose Best will probably go into the Nov. 5 BC Juvenile Turf off the layoff.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Look at it once, then look again. Then keep looking. A horseplayer could go crazy trying to nail down a sure winner Friday in the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades Stakes, a Grade 1 race that drew a large and extremely well-matched field of 2-year-old fillies for its 60th running on opening day at Keeneland.

The field for the $1 million Dirt Mile remains very much in flux as some of the would-be top contenders remain under consideration for other races as well.

Kelso winner Uncle Mo is a virtual certainty to run in the Classic, but his connections want to see him train before completely ruling out the Dirt Mile. Provided he runs in the Classic, that could send a bevy of horses into the Dirt Mile, where the early favorite is Jackson Bend, based on his runner-up finish to Uncle Mo in the Kelso and his Grade 1 Forego victory.

Having won Win And You’re In challenge races toward the Breeder’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5, Creative Cause, Drill, and Currency Swap have essentially run their way into the starting gate.

Now, it’s time for a couple more to get their turn Saturday, when the Grade 1 Champagne is run at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity is contested at Keeneland. Both races are Win and You’re In challenge races, meaning the winners of each earn an entry-paid automatic berth into Juvenile.

Shotgun Gulch moved geographically closer to a start in the Breeder’s Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Tuesday, when she was shipped from her Oklahoma base to Kentucky for the Grade 2, $200,000 Thoroughbred Club of America. Saturday’s stakes at Keeneland is a Win and You’re In challenge race for the Grade 1, $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint that will be held at neighboring Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’s hard to imagine a race coming up much tougher than how the Darley Alcibiades Stakes shapes up for opening day at Keeneland. The Grade 1, $400,000 race drew an overflow field of 2-year-old fillies as the ninth of 10 races on the Friday card, with shippers coming from everywhere to try to earn an automatic spot in the Breeders’ Cup.

KEENELAND FALL MEET: View stakes schedule, watch live video for every race day