A last-place finish by Lord North in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot in England last Saturday should not count.

At least, that is the point of view of trainer John Gosden, who is confident Lord North can rebound in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

“He got stuck in the deep mud at Ascot,” Gosden said Wednesday in a brief phone interview.

Trainer Bret Calhoun received a cold call from owner Chester Thomas in early 2018, they met a few days later at Calhoun’s barn at Fair Grounds, and afterward Thomas – who races as Allied Racing Stable – decided to place horses in Calhoun’s care.

Among them was a 2-year-old colt by Goldencents who wouldn’t get to the races until November. But that colt, By My Standards, and another son of Goldencents, Mr. Money, collectively knocked off the Louisiana Derby, West Virginia Derby, Indiana Derby, Pat Day Mile, and Matt Winn Stakes in 2019.

Vekoma has won challenge races for both the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. The question that remains is which race trainer George Weaver will choose for the Carter and Metropolitan handicap winner, who has not started since July 4 and has flown under the radar lately while preparing for the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 7 at Keeneland in relative anonymity at the Oklahoma training center at Saratoga.

It was late in 2014 when trainer Brad Cox sent Chocolate Ride, a horse recently claimed for $40,000, into his Fair Grounds string. Chocolate Ride turned into a front-running monster that winter, starting his meet with a first-level allowance win and ending it with victories in the Fair Grounds Handicap and in the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial. Chocolate Ride won the Fair Grounds Handicap again the next season but in truth never was the same horse he’d been that first season in New Orleans.

The picture for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint is still coming in to focus, as several youngsters are expected to be cross-entered when pre-entries close on Monday. But one horse is a certain entity – favored Golden Pal, who continues steady preparations at his Keeneland base.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With unbeaten fillies abounding, the prospective field for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies has winnowed to single digits as the Monday deadline for pre-entries nears.

Princess Noor, Simply Ravishing, and Dayoutoftheoffice are all undefeated in three starts, scaring off most would-be longshots whose connections would dare to try them. That’s aside from Girl Daddy, who’s 2 for 2, and Souper Sensational, who also is 2 for 2 following a four-length romp last Saturday in the Glorious Song over the Woodbine synthetic.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Venetian Harbor not only showed she can win again when capturing the Raven Run last weekend, but the 3-year-old filly also got a run over the Keeneland surface at the same seven-furlong distance at which her next race, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, will be run Nov. 7.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Led by Rushing Fall and Sistercharlie, five of trainer Chad Brown’s possible 12 Breeders’ Cup candidates put in workouts Monday morning over Belmont Park’s yielding inner turf course.

Rushing Fall, working on the outside, and Sistercharlie went five furlongs as a team in 1:02.80, coming home their final quarter in 24.58 seconds around orange cones, referred to as dogs, over a course that had plenty of give in it following weekend rains. It’s the type of course they could encounter at Keeneland in early November.

Ghaiyyath, a four-time Group 1 winner in England and Germany, has been retired and will miss the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 7, according to a statement released on Monday by owner Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing.

Ghaiyyath was diagnosed with muscle soreness following a workout in England over the weekend, the statement said.

MIAMI – In the aftermath of Boca Boy’s two-length, upset victory over the previously undefeated and odds-on favorite Breeze On By in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality Stakes, there was talk of taking the steadily improving 2-year-old to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Nov. 6.

But in the end, the decision of whether or not to go came down to a matter of dollars and sense.