The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint will take just over a minute to run next Saturday at Keeneland – Leinster holds the course record, 1:00.86, for the 5 1/2-furlong trip.

But for the Dunne family, which co-owns the horse, their involvement with the race spans far more than a minute. Ciaran and Amy Dunne, who launched Wavertree Stables in 1995, gave Leinster his early training several years ago – as they previously did with his champion half-brother, Stormy Liberal – and have patiently watched their stable star develop.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Running four straight years in any particular stakes race is a rarity. Four straight years in the same Breeders’ Cup race is even more so.

Next Saturday at Keeneland, Whitmore will compete in the BC Sprint for the fourth straight year, a streak that swells trainer Ron Moquett with pride.

“He’s been such a consistent horse, always playing at a high level, and fortunately he’s been sound,” said Moquett. “Most importantly, he’s just a pretty cool animal.”

A year after winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Sharing in a minor upset, Maryland trainer Graham Motion has two prospects for the same race at Keeneland on Nov. 6.

Alda, second in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine on Sept. 20, is assured a berth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf at a mile. Invincible Gal, second in the Selima Stakes at Pimlico on Oct. 3, was among five fillies placed on the also-eligible list when pre-entries were released Wednesday. Nineteen fillies were pre-entered and 14 can run in the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf.

It looks like Starship Jubilee will be playing the long game in the Breeders’ Cup.

Though she was pre-entered in both the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile and the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf, trainer Kevin Attard said Wednesday that the Filly and Mare Turf “is the direction we’re heading in.”

Despite the presence of unbeaten and ultra-impressive Grade 1 winners Jackie’s Warrior and Essential Quality, 15 2-year-olds, including three who won a maiden race just last weekend, were pre-entered for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, to be run Nov. 6 at Keeneland. Fourteen will be allowed to start.

The pattern has become familiar: Win the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap in August, earn a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and take a longshot’s chance against many of the world’s best grass runners a few months later.

California trainer Phil D’Amato has won the Del Mar Handicap in six of the last seven years. Four of those winners have started in the BC Turf, but without success. The best results were ninth-place finishes by Big John B in 2014 and Acclimate last year when the race was run at Santa Anita.

Trainer Steve Asmussen won’t have reigning champ Mitole back for the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Nor will he have the horse who just a couple of months ago appeared to be the heir apparent to the throne, Grade 1 winner Volatile.

That being said, Asmussen will still have a pretty strong hand Nov. 7 at Keeneland when he attempts to win the Sprint again. Asmussen has pre-entered three horses for the race, including undefeated 3-year-olds Yaupon and Nashville.

It should come as no surprise that European shippers have won eight of the 13 editions of the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

America has the best young dirt horses, Europe the best young turf horses. The best of the best Europeans, by the time Breeders’ Cup rolls around, often have been put away for the winter, their connections eying European classic races the following season, but there remains plenty of capable stock targeting a race richer than anything available for European 2-year-olds back home.

Roiled by a pandemic that continues to impact the way the sport is conducted, racing heads toward the Breeders’ Cup Nov. 6 and 7 at Keeneland with the prospect of having one of its best events ever based on the list of pre-entries that were announced Wednesday. To borrow from Vin Scully when the Dodgers had last won the World Series prior to their victory Tuesday night, “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Zulu Alpha was not pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Turf after being found last weekend with minor swelling in his left foreleg.

Zulu Alpha, a 7-year-old trained by Mike Maker, has won seven graded turf stakes since Michael Hui claimed him for $80,000 in September 2018. Hui said the initial prognosis is that the injury most likely won’t preclude Zulu Alpha from racing next year at 8.