ARCADIA, Calif. – A cool, crisp morning for Breeders’ Cup horses training at Santa Anita on Wednesday was marred at the very end when Metaboss was pulled up by his rider near the quarter pole during a routine gallop over the turf course and was vanned off with a career-ending injury.

The entire contingent of Breeders’ Cup runners is now on the grounds, several making their first appearance on the track Wednesday since arriving from out of town. Only two horses worked Wednesday, Melatonin over the main track for the Classic and Nuovo Record on grass for the Filly and Mare Turf.

Daily Racing Form Inc. has launched an app that allows customers of its betting platform to place bets on an iPhone, the company announced Wednesday.

The updated DRF Bets app was made available on the App Store two days prior to the Friday Breeders’ Cup card at Santa Anita and offers customers the ability to make bets on iOS devices like the iPhone for the first time. The app is compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices, although the devices must run on an 8.0 version of iOS or a later version for the app to work.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The youngest trainer with a starter in the Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita this week is 23, in the midst of a wildly successful rookie year, and has a familiar mentor who is at the pinnacle of the sport.

Santa Anita
Main track: Fast
Turf: Firm
Weather: Overcast
Temp. 58

History suggests the foreign colts may be more dangerous than the fillies in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds on turf at Santa Anita. But a glance at this year’s runners leaves the impression the trend could shift this year.

The $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf was first run in 2007, followed a year later by the addition of the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. Of the nine winners of the Juvenile Turf, seven made their last start in Europe, including one for American trainer Wesley Ward.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The phrase “what a difference a year makes” is often a cliché, but in the case of the ex-trainer Maria Borell, oh, my, what an incredible difference only a year makes.

One year ago, Borell was the trainer of record of the top sprinter in the nation, Runhappy, who would go on to decisively win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland Racecourse on Oct. 31. The win touched off an intense public fascination with Borell, a photogenic young trainer who appeared to have come out of nowhere.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A showdown between California Chrome and Arrogate in the $6 million Classic on Saturday and an unprecedented match-up between champions Beholder, Songbird, and Stellar Wind in the $2 million Distaff on Friday highlight 13 Breeders’ Cup races that will be run on Friday and Saturday at Santa Anita, and for which posts were drawn on Monday.

California Chrome and Arrogate top a field of 10 entered in the Classic, the last and richest of the 13 races, nine of which are Saturday, four on Friday.

Santa Anita
Main track: Fast
Turf: Firm
Weather: Clear
Temp. 67

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert and his Hall of Fame colleague Bill Mott should have been all smiles at the end of Monday’s training session at Santa Anita. They sent out a total of six Breeders’ Cup contenders between them who turned in impressive final workouts for Saturday races.

ARCADIA, Calif. – David Hofmans hiked into the box seats at Santa Anita the other morning to watch Melatonin work, reached into his pocket, and realized he’d left his stopwatch in the tack room back at his barn.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Alphabet Soup doesn’t like to be passed.

“At night, when I come home and it’s dark, I open up the gate, and first I hear him and then see him – he kind of glows in the dark,” Old Friends founder and president Michael Blowen said. “He comes over, and it’s like paying a toll on the Massachusetts Turnpike – I’ve got to feed him a carrot in order to get up the hill.”