Breeders' Cup has slightly altered its betting menu this year to take into account bettors' evolving preferences and to capitalize on the Breeders' Cup's races being spread out over two days for the first time.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Todd Pletcher will be just as concerned with Mother Nature as he will be any of his rivals when it comes to his champion filly Wait a While and Saturday’s $2?million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Having shown a disdain for soft ground, Wait a While – listed as the co third-choice in the Filly and Mare Turf by Daily Racing Form handicapper Mike Watchmaker – could be scratched from the race if the Monmouth Park turf course is too soft. As of Monday, there was a 60 percent chance of showers on Tuesday and a 40 percent chance of rain on Saturday.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The Breeders' Cup begins in just a few days but things remain relatively quiet at Monmouth Park. Only three works took place Monday morning here, where the star of the show remains Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, even when he's sent out for only a routine gallop.

There was a distinct contrast in styles from each of the morning's three workers. Benny the Bull went very fast, Smokey Stover worked relatively slow, and Miss Macy Sue barely seemed to be working at all.

All clockings are according to Daily Racing Form, unless otherwise noted.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - After Market, who should be among the favorites in the Breeders' Cup Mile, got his first look at the Monmouth Park track on Monday morning, squeezing in a training regimen just before the 7:45 a.m. renovation break, which actually was delayed by After Market's stablemate Tiago, the last horse allowed onto the track before it was closed for mid-morning renovation.

After Market "got a little hot" on Monday, according to trainer John Shirreffs, who then explained why: "I galloped him two miles."

OCEANPORT, N.J. - For a summertime track like Monmouth Park to open for an unprecedented four-day fall meeting beginning Wednesday, it must be something special. And it is. The Breeders' Cup is coming to town, encompassing two days of BC racing for the first time, headed by a $5 million Classic that should decide Horse of the Year.

ELMONT, N.Y. - It was, both literally and figuratively, unseasonably warm at Belmont Park on Monday. On a balmly morning, Tale of Ekati, in his final work for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Saturday at Monmouth Park, burned up the track. And after the drill, steam was coming out of the ears of Barclay Tagg, who trains Tale of Ekati.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The connections of La Traviata have decided to forgo their original plan to run the undefeated 3-year-old filly against males in the Breeders' Cup Sprint and instead were to enter her on Tuesday for Friday's $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The Green Monster is not just the left-field home-run fence at Fenway Park in Boston. It's also a term some racetrackers use to try and describe an anxious horse's perception of the starting gate, that metal behemoth often painted green. And the gate was almost the undoing of Trippi's Storm.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - It would not be altogether unreasonable to think that Carl Nafzger and Street Sense got to Monmouth Park just so they could hurry up and wait. As Street Sense stood in the back of his stall early Saturday, all alone in Barn 8, Nafzger peeked in on his stable star.

"Son of a gun's in there asleep," he said with a smile.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Bear Now had her final major tune-up for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff here Sunday, breezing five furlongs in 1:00.40 on the training track.

Regular rider Jerry Baird was aboard Bear Now for the drill, which was the quickest of 10 at the distance over the “fast” surface.

“She was just coasting,” said trainer Reade Baker, who caught Bear Now pulling up through six furlongs in 1:15. “She’s spot-on.”