In 2021, trainer Wayne Catalano won one graded stakes race – the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with Aloha West. In 2022, Catalano again came into autumn winless in graded races. That changed quickly. On Oct. 7 at Keeneland, Manny Wah won the Phoenix and now is bound for his second start in the Breeders Cup Sprint. Two days later, Andthewinneris rolled home an impressive winner of the Bourbon Stakes. He starts next in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

Though not fully committed just yet, the connections of Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike are preparing their horse as if he will run in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5 at Keeneland, trainer Eric Reed said this week.

“We’re leaning pretty hard that way, I’d say that’s where we’ll end up,” Reed said Tuesday. “We got til the 24th, and each day we have another discussion.”

Reed’s discussions are with Richard Dawson, the owner of Rich Strike. The other option, Reed said, is waiting for the Grade 1, $750,000 Clark Stakes on Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs.

The versatile styles that Pleasant Passage displayed by winning her first two starts on turf in New York could prove to be a tremendous asset in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 4 at Keeneland.

Pleasant Passage closed from fifth of eight to win a maiden special weight at 1 1/16 miles on Aug. 21 at Saratoga. In the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes at the Belmont at the Big A meeting on Oct. 1, Pleasant Passage led throughout the $200,000 race at 1 1/16 miles to win by three-quarters of a length.

One horse. Two restaurants.

It’s going to be a busy Breeders’ Cup week for trainer Carlo Vaccarezza.

He has Injunction under serious consideration for the $1 million BC Dirt Mile on Nov. 5 at Keeneland, and co-owns and operates two popular restaurants in Lexington, Ky.

Injunction is coming off a runner-up finish to Senor Buscador in the Ack Ack, a BC Challenge race Oct. 1 at Churchill Downs. He is now settled in at Keeneland as his connections debate nominating him to the Breeders’ Cup program at a cost of $100,000.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The winner of the Prix de l’Opera earlier this month won’t be shipped overseas for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, but the fillies who gave her closest chase in that prestigious French event remain two of the major contenders for the Nov. 5 race at Keeneland.

Place du Carrousel, the 41-1 winner of the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp for legendary trainer Andre Fabre, was withdrawn from consideration for the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf early this week, according to the International Racing Bureau.

Budroyale, who won 17 of 52 starts in a seven-year career from 1995 to 2001 throughout the West Coast, was euthanized earlier this month because of age-related infirmities at the age of 29. 

In retirement, Budroyale resided at a farm in Langley, British Columbia, and his presence there meant even more than the track victories for owner Jeffrey Sengara.

“He handled his retirement like a champion,” an emotional Sengara recalled Sunday. “Some of them go into retirement and they don’t take it so well.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Juan Hernandez, the leading rider at the Santa Anita winter-spring and Del Mar summer meetings earlier this year, has been suspended for a single day on Oct. 16 for excessive use of the whip in the ninth race at Santa Anita on Saturday.

In a ruling issued on Sunday by Santa Anita stewards, Hernandez was cited for using his whip seven times on Turn on the Jets, who finished second by three-quarters of a length as the 9-5 favorite in an allowance race at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The eight-time stakes winner Going Global was held out of Saturday’s Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Santa Anita for a start in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at a mile on turf on Oct. 29.

The difference in the races was a deciding factor, trainer Phil D’Amato said.

“She’s going to be awfully tough at a mile,” D’Amato said. “I like that spot for her.”

D’Amato won the Rodeo Drive with Going to Vegas, who earned a fees-paid trip to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 5.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Slow Down Andy is bound for a Breeders’ Cup race at Keeneland on Nov. 5, with both the Dirt Mile and Classic under consideration, trainer Doug O’Neill said on Sunday.

“He’s got options,” O’Neill said.

Owned by breeders Paul and Zillah Reddam, the 3-year-old Slow Down Andy was third in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 1, racing near the front before fading to finish 2 1/4 lengths behind winner Defunded.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Elite Power will likely be pointed to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint following his 5 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Vosburgh at Aqueduct.

Elite Power earned a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint by virtue of the Vosburgh victory, which was Elite power’s first appearance in a stakes race. Overall, it was Elite Power’s fourth consecutive victory.

“It looked like, just visually, this race was pretty easy for him,” trainer Bill Mott said. “Jose [Lezcano] said he was just loafing. He showed him the whip and away he went.”