Seize the Grey, one of 19 horses pre-entered in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar, had a significant work for the Nov. 2 race on Wednesday.

The Preakness and Pennsylvania Derby winner went six furlongs in 1:13.40 at his Churchill Downs base, where his major prep work is being completed, according to trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

“I doubt if I work him there,” Lukas said Tuesday of Del Mar. “I think we’ll probably just do some serious galloping there.”

The question probably is not “if” but “who.”

A European horse has won the last three renewals of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, five of the last seven, and one among the seven of them selected to start this year likely wins Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

The “who” leads to a less certain answer – no standouts among the Euro septet.

Aidan O’Brien won the race the last two years, has six Juvenile Turf wins overall, and pre-entered the pair of Henri Matisse and Monumental.

Trainer Bob Baffert will have numbers but he is unlikely to have the favorite when he seeks a record sixth victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to be run Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

Baffert pre-entered three 2-year-olds in the Juvenile and though all of them are graded stakes winners, the trio of Gaming, Getaway Car, and Citizen Bull are likely to go off at longer odds than the likes of East Avenue and Chancer McPatrick, who figure to vie for favoritism in an intriguing renewal of the Juvenile.

The Thoroughbreds pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup were bred in nine different countries – Argentina, Canada, Chile, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, South Africa, and the United States. South Africa is among the countries seeking its first Breeders’ Cup win, and seeking to become a major player on the international stage.

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar retained its status as one of the more popular races in the two-day series when pre-entries were announced Wednesday.

The race drew 21 pre-entries from Europe and throughout North America. Of the other 13 races to be run Nov. 1-2, only the Juvenile Turf with 23 drew more pre-entries.

A total of 212 horses, including three winners from a year ago, one winner from 2022, and a large international cast topped by a record 19 horses from Japan were pre-entered for this year’s Breeders’ Cup, a two-day event consisting of 14 races worth $30 million in purses to be held Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar in Southern California.

The 212 figure is six more than the number of pre-entrants in both 2023 and 2022 and is the second most pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup behind only the 221 who were pre-entered in 2018.

Since his debut in October 2023, the 3-year-old Irish-bred colt Illinois has had a career focused on distance races, so much so that when he makes an expected start in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf at 1 1/2 miles on Nov. 2 at Del Mar he will race at a shorter distance than his last two starts.

Trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien, Illinois has been in the top three in all nine of his races. By the late sire Galileo, Illinois won his second Group 2 in the $216,500 Prix Chaudenay at 1 7/8 miles on soft turf by two lengths at 2-5 at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Oct. 5.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The starting lineup for the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Sprint lost one major contender but may have picked up another with the announcements this week that The Chosen Vron is out but Domestic Product is now under consideration for the race. The pair were among 15 horses pre-entered for the event Monday.