DEL MAR, Calif. – A lot has changed with Life Is Good since he announced himself for the first time to the world here at Del Mar 11 months ago, but one thing hasn’t – his brilliance.

Life Is Good missed the Triple Crown owing to a minor injury, and his owners changed trainers and thus the coast on which he is based, but Life Is Good has continued to race and train like a special horse. He heads the list of 11 horses – two of whom are expected to go in other Breeders’ Cup races – who were announced on Wednesday as pre-entries for the $1 million Dirt Mile on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Essential Quality and Knicks Go are two of eight Breeders’ Cup winners from 2020 who were among those announced as pre-entries on Wednesday, but this year they are scheduled to face off in what could be an intramural battle for Horse of the Year.

Essential Quality, last year’s winner of the Juvenile, and Knicks Go, who won the Dirt Mile, are among 10 horses pre-entered in the $6 million Classic, the richest and last of 14 Breeders’ Cup races that will be run Nov. 5 and 6 at Del Mar.

Champion Essential Quality will be retired following the Breeders' Cup and will join the Kentucky stallion ranks for Sheikh Mohammed’s international Godolphin racing and Darley stallions operation, along with Maxfield, the farm announced Monday.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Led by potential Juvenile favorite Jack Christopher and his trio of Turf horses Domestic Spending, Tribhuvan and Rockemperor, trainer Chad Brown on Saturday at Belmont Park worked 11 horses pointing to Breeders’ Cup races scheduled for Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar.

Jack Christopher, 2 for 2 after a dominant victory in the Grade 1 Champagne, worked five furlongs in 1:00.85 Saturday morning in company with the filly Gerrymander. Jack Christopher was well in hand on the outside, getting his final quarter in 24.13 seconds.

Hit the Road, winner of the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile in March, will have a new jockey for his next start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

John Velazquez will ride Hit the Road for the first time in the BC Mile, replacing Florent Geroux, trainer Dan Blacker said Friday. Blacker did not elaborate on the decision.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Bill Mott’s five prospective Breeders’ Cup horses put in workouts at Saratoga on Friday in advance of their ship early next week to Southern California. All five are pointing to races on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Since he owns a fees-paid berth into the race, Following Sea will be likely be pre-entered Monday for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint to buy his connections more time before deciding whether to run, trainer Todd Pletcher said Friday.

Following Sea earned his way into the Nov. 6 Sprint at Del Mar by virtue of his victory in the Grade 2 Vosburgh on Oct. 9. On Friday, Following Sea worked a half-mile in 49.73 seconds over Belmont Park’s training track.

Mishriff, winner of three Group 1 races in Europe and the Middle East this year, will not start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6.

Trainer John Gosden said on Thursday that Mishriff is in need “of a little bit of a rest.”

“You need to be 100 percent happy that you’re doing the right thing,” Gosden said. “He’s been a pretty busy boy.”

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Diamond Wow lost a very expensive photo when she finished second by a head in the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes on turf on Oct. 13 at Keeneland.

California Angel rallied late to win narrowly, earning $120,000 of the $200,000 purse. Diamond Wow earned $40,000. Of that second-place prize money, $30,000 will be devoted to pre-entry and an entry fee to put Diamond Wow in the gate for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 5 at Del Mar.

“We were happy with the race,” trainer and co-owner Patrick Biancone reflected Wednesday. “We wish her head was a little longer.

Provided he works to expectations over the weekend, Rattle N Roll will make his next start in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 5 at Del Mar, trainer Ken McPeek said Tuesday.

“The horse is doing well right now,” McPeek said. “We’re making arrangements to go.”

In the immediate aftermath of Rattle N Roll’s authoritative six-length victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, McPeek had discussed possibly bypassing the Breeders’ Cup to await the Grade 2, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club on Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs.