LOUISVILLE, Ky. – He’ll be impossible to miss. He’ll be the gray horse streaking away early from post 2, looking to flaunt a rare brand of early speed that has made him one of the favorites for the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

ELMONT, N.Y. – By My Standards was not entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park after being diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection following his most recent workout, trainer Bret Calhoun said Wednesday.

The issue most likely takes By My Standards out of consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Calhoun said. By My Standards, still in search of a Grade 1 victory, will point to the Grade 1 Clark on Nov. 26 at Churchill Downs or the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Dec. 4 at Aqueduct, Calhoun said.

The centers of power for the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Mile rest in California and Europe.

Mo Forza and Smooth Like Strait, part of the 2021 Mile’s initial Top 10 list, face Hit the Road in the City of Hope Mile on Saturday at Santa Anita.

Things grown murkier across the Atlantic. Palace Pier, the leading European miler, races Oct. 16 in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, and his connections have hinted the colt will be sent to stud afterward. Baaeed, a rising star miler, also is aimed at the QE II, but so far there have been no indications he could come to America.

The $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf figures to be top-heavy with European-based runners, the contenders likely to reveal themselves in major races this weekend in France and England.

Audarya, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner, will hope to convince her connections to bring her to Del Mar when she runs in Sunday’s Group 1 Prix de l’Opera, the same race she finished third behind Tarnawa in last year prior to upsetting the Filly and Mare Turf at 17-1 for trainer James Fanshawe. (Tarnawa would win the BC Turf.)

Grade 1 stakes this week in California and New York should begin to define the true contenders for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, to be run at Del Mar on Nov. 5.

Trainers Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher go into the week with a bevy of hopefuls for the Juvenile. While Baffert, a four-time Juvenile winner, has seemingly decided to train Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity winner Pinehurst up to the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile, he will send out three high-quality runners in Friday’s Grade 1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita: Corniche, Rockefeller, and Flying Drummer.

Sprint races often unfold with a chaotic scramble for position. And appropriately enough, that describes the picture for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, with four major prep races remaining in the U.S. leading up to the fourth running of the newest Breeders’ Cup event.

A field of seven will line up on Friday at Santa Anita for the Speakeasy Stakes, which offers a fees-paid berth in the Juvenile Turf Sprint to its winner. Four in the lineup are trying turf for the first time, including two of the race’s standouts, One Timer and Forbidden Kingdom.

One is an 8-year-old veteran who has been in the barn for years. One is a 3-year-old who has been in the barn since summer. But in Extravagant Kid and The Lir Jet, both well-traveled runners who have scored major wins at renowned international meetings, trainer Brendan Walsh has a strong duo of prospects for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

The Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Oct. 9 at Belmont Park will help determine some of the domestic hopes for the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

The home team could do with a boost in membership.

With five weeks to the Breeders’ Cup, the international candidates are a much stronger group, a roster that will be better known after Sunday’s Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris. The Arc is Europe’s richest race, with a purse of $5.8 million. The BC Turf is worth $4 million.

Races this Saturday in California, Kentucky, and New York should help shape the final field for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, which at present figures to come up long on quality but short on quantity, headed as it is by in-form runners such as the brilliant Life Is Good, Met Mile winner Silver State, and Del Mar terror Ginobili.

The most obvious prep is the Ack Ack, a one-turn mile at Churchill Downs that includes Rushie, winner of the Pat Day Mile there 55 weeks ago.

Undefeated after two races, Maryland-based Koala Princess has credentials as attractive as any domestic prospect for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 5 at Del Mar.

The question is how to campaign Koala Princess in coming weeks.

Trainer Arnaud Delacour and the partnership that owns Koala Princess – Runnymede Farm, Peter Callahan, and Chris Zinkhan – have the option of a start in the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf on Oct. 13 at Keeneland, or waiting for the Breeders’ Cup.