It was just about feeding time the other morning at Al Stall Jr.’s barn at Churchill Downs and there was Tom’s d’Etat, in a familiar spot, peering out of his stall, eagerly awaiting brunch. It was the morning after his final work, six days before what will be the final start of his elongated and oft-interrupted career, in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Keeneland, and the 7-year-old war horse was seemingly as eager as ever to get it on.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brad Cox doesn’t plan on getting all emotional after what is likely to be the final start for Monomoy Girl. “At least I say I’m not going to,” Cox said with a laugh.

No one could blame Cox for being overwhelmed Saturday if Monomoy Girl becomes just the fourth horse to win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff for a second time. It has been 2 1/2 years since Monomoy Girl kick-started a remarkable span of success for her trainer, giving him a number of noteworthy victories in furthering his rise as one of the game’s young stars.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Scientific evidence supports the idea that horses can remember one another. You’ll forgive Global Campaign, Improbable, and Tom’s d’Etat then if they experience a bit of déjà vu when they board a van to WinStar Farm this coming Sunday. The three will first line up together in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday evening at nearby Keeneland, giving the farm a strong hand of stallion prospects in the $6 million race.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Earlier this week, 70 2-year-old horses were entered into the five Breeders’ Cup races restricted to juveniles.

According to their past performances, only five of them has ever received a raceday administration of Lasix, the diuretic used widely in North America to mitigate bleeding in the lungs. And not a single one will receive Lasix on the day the juvenile races will be held, Friday.

When it has come to the Breeders’ Cup, Luis Saez has been a non-factor. Not only is he winless with 22 career mounts – only four of whom have been under 10-1 odds – he has only ridden 10 horses combined in the event the last four years.

This year, Saez should very much be a factor in the Breeders’ Cup. Not only will he ride 13 of the 14 BC races Friday and Saturday at Keeneland, he will be aboard a number of top contenders, many of whom figure to be prominent early in their races.

Fourteen amped-up 2-year-olds, short run to the first bend, two relatively tight turns – seems like the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf could turn into a battleground.

How appropriate. Battleground is the name of Aidan O’Brien’s entrant in the one-mile Juvenile Turf, and the Juvenile Turf already bears O’Brien’s indelible mark. Four times in 13 renewals the Juvenile Turf has been won by an O’Brien-trained horse, a quartet that includes Hit It a Bomb, who stormed home from 14th place at the half-mile pole to win the 2015 Juvenile Turf over the Keeneland course.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Unlike most other Breeders’ Cup races this weekend at Keeneland, the $2 million Juvenile Fillies drew a short field.

And yet no one is complaining about it. That’s because the collective quality of the seven fillies in the 37th running of the 1 1/16-mile race seems beyond reproach, with four of them never having tasted defeat ahead of what is one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the two-day series.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With a full, 14-horse field that includes four undefeated fillies and nary a single starter who finished worse than third in their previous outing, the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf is arguably the most wide open and inscrutable race, from a handicapping standpoint, not only Friday but of all 14 events on this year’s Breeders’ Cup program.

The first Keeneland Breeders’ Cup, in 2015, was kind to European runners.

Overseas horses won two of the five turf races in which they started (no one ran in the Turf Sprint), Hit It a Bomb capturing the Juvenile Turf, Found the Turf. Success ran deeper than victory. Europeans took second and third in the Filly and Mare Turf, second and third in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, first and third in the Juvenile Turf, second in the Mile, and first and second in the Turf.

At 7-5 in the $2 million Juvenile, Jackie’s Warrior was made the shortest-priced favorite of the five Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds to be run Friday at Keeneland. It’s homage to what the speedy colt has accomplished in just four starts, winning three graded stakes including dominant victories in the Hopeful and Champagne, Grade 1 fixtures in New York.

But all four of his victories have come in one-turn races. The big question surrounding Jackie’s Warrior is will he be as brilliant going two turns?