A $75,000 stakes at Delaware Park might seem an unconventional path to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, but for Grade 1 Spinaway winner Grace Hall, the race is perfectly logical.

Unbeaten in two starts, Grace Hall will run Saturday at Delaware in the Blue Hen Stakes, an ungraded route at a mile and 70 yards that trainer Anthony Dutrow considers ideal.

Cambina is a multiple stakes winner against 3-year-old fillies this year, a season highlighted so far by a dead-heat win in the Grade 1 American Oaks at Hollywood Park in July.

Trainer Jeff Bonde thinks she can accomplish more, beginning in Saturday’s $250,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita. If Cambina runs well against older fillies and mares in the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon, Bonde will target the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf over 1 3/8 miles on turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.

The first meeting of Alaura Michele and Slip Along Band, who are leading American-based candidates for the Grade 2, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 4, could come Sunday at Belmont Park. Both are possible for the Grade 3, $100,000 Miss Grillo.

Alaura Michele is 2 for 2 on turf, with her biggest win on the surface coming last out in the P.G. Johnson at Saratoga on Aug. 31.

The newly inaugurated Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint finds itself in a position similar to the Juvenile Turf. Albeit a rich, attractive race, it is still “little brother” relative to the Juvenile.

It lacks the history, purse, and prestige of the latter race and therefore seems likely to draw mostly 2-year-olds with distant limitations or those simply too far behind schedule to be prepared for a 1 1/16-mile race like the Juvenile.

There are years in which the favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile is apparent before October.

This isn’t one of those years. A dominant leader, or even a clear pecking order in the division, has yet to be established.

The most established runners entering the fall are Currency Swap and Drill, respective winners of the Grade 1 Hopeful and Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity – Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In races that earned each automatic, paid-entry berths in the Juvenile.

When owner Charles Fipke sent Jersey Town to Barclay Tagg late last summer, he did so with the intention of making the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Tagg, not content with how the horse was doing physically, said he needed more time and asked Fipke if he could point to the Grade 1 Cigar Mile instead.

Tagg’s decision paid off handsomely when Jersey Town outfinsihed Haynesfield by a head to win the Cigar Mile at odds of 34-1.

After bringing Jersey Town back from ankle surgery this year, Fipke asked Tagg if he could point to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

With a couple of flashy 3-year-old fillies – Turbulent Descent and Pomeroys Pistol – among the top prospects, there seems little doubt the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint once again will draw a deep and competitive field.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board has sanctioned five racing officials for an incident in July when an incorrect order of finish was briefly posted after the Grade 2 A Gleam Handicap at Hollywood Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – For as long as they’ve been together, Stay Thirsty has always walked in the shadow of his stablemate Uncle Mo. By virtue of victories in the Jim Dandy and Travers at Saratoga, Stay Thirsty has certainly done his best to escape.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ten years after Tiznow became the only horse to win back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Classics, WinStar Farm has announced it will give a breeding season to the stallion for any filly or mare who wins the Nov. 5 race at Churchill Downs this year.