OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Bob Baffert said the one thing he hoped for most coming into Saturday's $2omillion Breeders' Cup Sprint at Monmouth Park with Midnight Lute was that the best horse would win.

And, boy, did he ever!

Midnight Lute left little doubt that he's the best sprinter in the country, overcoming a slow start to win the six-furlong Breeders' Cup Sprint by a widening 4 3/4 lengths over Idiot Proof.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Indian Blessing put trainer Bob Baffert back in the international racing spotlight by staying unbeaten when running 12 other 2-year-old fillies off their feet in a wire-to-wire victory Saturday in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - After Market was scratched from the Breeders' Cup Mile around 11 a.m. on Saturday. The scratch had begun to seem inevitable by late this week, as Monmouth was pelted by shower after shower, turning the turf course very wet. The turf was labeled soft for Saturday's races, and After Market was scratched under similar conditions the morning of the Aug. 11 Arlington Million.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – With almost two inches of rain having fallen to soften up the Monmouth Park turf course, Wait a While was scratched from Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Though trainer Todd Pletcher was not immediately available for comment, he had said all week long that Wait a While prefers firm turf and that it was a real possibility she could be scratched if the turf came up soft.

Pletcher had also said that Wait a While could be pointed to the Grade 1 Matriarch at Hollywood Park on Nov. 25.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Corinthian perfectly filled the niche for which the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile was intended when he crushed seven other rivals Friday at Monmouth Park, capping a year during which he also won a definitive miler race, the Metropolitan Mile.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - A boggy turf course, gray skies, sheets of mist blowing off the heath - it seemed like a perfect day for an Irish-based grass horse. Wrong. It was American-bred Nownownow who got the best of Irish invader Achill Island in the inaugural running of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday at Monmouth Park.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The Breeders' Cup arrived at Monmouth Park on Friday. The rain, regretfully, did not leave.

It was a raw, miserable day for the first day of the inaugural two-day Breeders' Cup, with persistent rain that soaked a main track and a turf course already waterlogged from rain in previous days.

The ongoing wet weather here, coupled with a grim forecast for Saturday morning, led Monmouth Park to announce to trainers on Friday afternoon that the main track would be closed for training on Saturday morning, the second day of the Breeders' Cup.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Breeders' Cup officials got a head start on their $3 million guaranteed pick-six pool for Saturday as nobody hit the gimmick wager Friday at Monmouth Park, resulting in an $82,024 carryover into Saturday.

The consolation payoff for having five of six was $1,681.10.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Getting into the winner's circle to have his picture taken was a far more difficult proposition for trainer Doug O'Neill on Friday than winning the inaugural Filly and Mare Breeders' Cup Sprint with Maryfield at a soggy Monmouth Park.

O'Neill was repeatedly stopped by an overzealous New Jersey state trooper who questioned his credentials while Maryfield and her raucous band of supporters celebrated in the winner's circle. The 6-year-old mare rallied to a half-length triumph over the 43-1 Miraculous Miss in the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Slew's Tiznow was scratched on Friday from Saturday's Breeders' Cup Juvenile, according to Breeders' Cup official Dora Delgado, who said Slew's Tiznow had a fever.

Slew's Tiznow, the runner-up in the Lane's End Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland three weeks ago, is the second horse to be withdrawn from the Juvenile. On Thursday, Dixie Chatter was scratched, also with a fever.

With those two scratched, there is now a field of 11 in the Juvenile.