INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The $150,000 Oak Tree Mile at Hollywood Park on Saturday was more of a prep for the $100,000 California Cup Mile on Oct. 30 than the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Gio Ponti flexed the muscles of a multiple Eclipse Award winner Saturday when gliding to victory without even feeling the whip in the richest race of the Keeneland fall meet, the $600,000 Shadwell Turf Mile.

With Ramon Dominguez aboard, Gio Ponti relaxed off the early pace in the Grade 1 Shadwell before rallying between rivals and finishing a deceptively easy length before Society’s Chairman in a field of six older horses. He returned $3.60 as the favorite.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Al Stall has long known he trains one of the top handicap horses in America in Blame. And after Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, he can feel with confidence that he also has one of the nation’s top juveniles, too, in J. B.’s Thunder.

Making just the second start of his career, J. B.’s Thunder made short work of the Breeders’ Futurity field, taking command from the start and quickening away from the opposition to score a four-length victory over Santiva.

 ELMONT, N.Y. - When trainer Michelle Nihei saw the first half of Saturday’s Grade 1 Jamaica Breeders’ Cup Handicap go in 50.48 seconds, and her 3-year-old Prince Will I Am was eight lengths back, she wasn’t loving her chances to win.

 “That just terrified me,” Nihei said. “I smelled death at that point.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Just because the Breeders’ Cup is going to be held on a dirt surface this year doesn’t mean the California-based horses used to running exclusively on synthetic surfaces are going to be at a disadvantage.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Proviso did her best Zenyatta impersonation Saturday in the Grade 1, $400,000 First Lady at Keeneland, appearing in danger of being beaten in midstretch, only to unleash a powerful closing kick to secure yet another prestigious victory.

As she had in winning the Diana, Just a Game, and Frank Kilroe Mile earlier in the year – all Grade 1 races - Proviso didn’t win by much, but impressed with a half-length score over longshot C.S. Silk.
 

The connections of both Etched and Musket Man, who finished a close one-two in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Monmouth Cup at Monmouth Park have to give serious consideration to giving their horses a shot in next month’s Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Dubai Majesty ran down an improbable longshot to post the richest victory in her rags-to-riches career Saturday in the 30th running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Visits to the Keeneland’s winner’s circle following stakes victories have become routine for Silver Timber.

For the third consecutive meet at Keeneland, Silver Timber scored a graded stakes victory over the Keeneland grass course in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Woodford, following a victory in the Grade 3 Shakertown this spring and in last fall’s Woodford.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Unzip Me, winner of five stakes for female turf sprinters, is a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint against males Nov. 6, trainer Marty Jones said earlier this week.

Unzip Me won her most recent start, the $100,000 Sen. Ken Maddy Handicap against fillies and mares over six furlongs on turf at Hollywood Park on Sept. 30. The Grade 3 Maddy was her second consecutive graded stakes win, preceded by the Grade 3 Royal North Stakes at Woodbine.

The $1 million BC Turf Sprint is run over five furlongs on turf.