LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The gaggle of drab-dressed men milling outside the fenced-off European shipper barn on the Churchill Downs backstretch definitely was not from Breeders' Cup Ltd., lacking the signature purple windbreakers. Nor were they ESPN producers, or glad-handing bloodstock agents. This was the assembled press corps from Europe, mostly English, and the reporters had one task: Get a word with the lads who had just taken Ouija Board out Tuesday morning for her first Churchill exercise.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Breeders' Cup was designed to formalize the process of determining champions, and it has worked gloriously since its inception in 1984. Regional biases are muted, since there is the opportunity for the best in the world to meet on one day, at one site. This year's $5 million Classic best exemplifies the importance of the Breeders' Cup.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Due more to injury than anything else, this has not been a typical year for jockey John Velazquez. But the two-time defending Eclipse Award-winning rider has a chance to end the year on a high note with rides in all eight Breeders' Cup races. Edgar Prado is the only other jockey to ride in all eight races.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The private rebirth of Garrett Gomez the person began roughly three years ago with his decision to forgo drugs and alcohol.

The public rebirth of Garrett Gomez the jockey began a little more than a year ago at Belmont Park when he rode two Breeders' Cup winners, the first of his career.

"It's always like a dream when you win a Breeders' Cup race," Gomez, 34, said earlier this week in the Churchill Downs jockeys' room, "much less two, and almost three."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Of the record 17 runners that trainer Todd Pletcher entered on Wednesday in seven of the eight Breeders' Cup races that will be run Saturday at Churchill Downs, three will go in the $2 million Juvenile, and all three drew posts that should suit their running styles.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Post position in a three-turn turf race won't make even a die-hard racing fan tremble in anticipation, and the only real suspense in Wednesday's Filly and Mare Turf draw was how trainer Patrick Biancone would lay his cards on the table. No surprises there, with Gorella, as expected, going to the BC Mile, and Biancone entering Mauralakana in the $2.2 million Filly and Mare Turf.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - While rivals English Channel and Cacique have become the most familiar to American racing fans among the runners in the $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf, the fact remains that European horses have dominated this race in recent years, with six of the last seven winners - including the 2003 dead heat between High Chaparral from Ireland and Johar from America - hailing from overseas.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Wednesday's post-position draw may or may not have affected the outcome of Saturday's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs, but it likely influenced strategy for at least one key contender in the $2 million, 1 1/16-mile race.

The unbeaten Dreaming of Anna drew the rail in the 14-horse Juvenile Fillies, which may force her jockey, Rene Douglas, to call upon her speed to secure position heading into the first turn. Otherwise, she could get boxed in or smothered by the speed to her outside, led by Lilly Carson in post 8.

Based on the lines set by both Mike Battaglia of Churchill Downs and Mike Watchmaker of Daily Racing Form, Bernardini will be the shortest-priced favorite in the eight Breeders' Cup races. He is even money on Battaglia's line, and 4-5 with Watchmaker, DRF's national handicapper. Yet after facing a total of 13 rivals combined in his last three races, Bernardini will now have a dozen out to knock him from his perch.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Super Frolic found himself in a new barn on Wednesday and in a new Breeders' Cup race as owner Ro Parra transferred him to trainer Scott Blasi and entered him in the $2.17 million Breeders' Cup Mile.

Meanwhile, in confirming the wide-open nature of this year's Mile, Churchill Downs handicapper Mike Battaglia and Daily Racing Form national handicapper Mike Watchmaker differed on their top three choices.