LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, the Swiss-born brothers who bred and own Goldikova, announced during the 2008 post-BC Mile press conference that they would delay retirement and bring the Mile winner back to race at age 4, a cheer went up from assembled media.

How quaint.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tuesday’s Breeders’ Cup workout report from Churchill Downs would be better called the “gallop” report since nary a single Cup contender turned in an officially timed trial either over the main track or turf course throughout the four-hour training session which began under clear but once again near-frigid conditions.

A marathon Breeders’ Cup post position draw produced precious little liveliness Monday afternoon at Churchill Downs, but a short, excited cry came from a table of Frenchmen when Goldikova was assigned post 1 for the BC Mile.

“That’s what we were hoping for,” Regis Barbedette, the traveling head lad overseeing Goldikova until trainer Freddie Head arrives Tuesday, said afterward. “I just spoke to Freddie Head, and he was applauding us. We said we had nothing to do with it!”

Classic rivals Uncle Mo and Havre de Grace might get the most ink during Breeders’ Cup Week 2011. Whippersnappers. Uncle Mo barely had been weaned from his mother’s side, and Havre de Grace was a yearling in the earliest phases of training when Goldikova won her first Breeders’ Cup Mile, way back in 2008. Goldikova was a 3-year-old then. Twice that age, she returns this week to Churchill Downs, where she won her third BC Mile in 2010 and seeks a fourth victory in the race Nov. 5.

Singles.

Like plastics in the seminal movie “The Graduate,” singles is the word in the final days leading up to the Breeders’ Cup.

Without having a strong opinion or two somewhere on the cards, it is almost impossible to take a serious swing for the fences.

So, in this game, it is “singles” that can become home runs.

For the first time since early summer 2008, mighty Goldikova has lost two races in a row, and while the mare is far from washed-up, her defeat in the Prix de la Foret on Sunday in Paris lends hope to her potential rivals in the Breeders’ Cup Mile next month at Churchill Downs.

Dream Ahead won the Group 1 Prix de la Foret on Sunday at Longchamp, but all eyes were on the horse a head behind him at the finish, as Goldikova wrapped up the European portion of her storied career with a narrow loss in Paris.

The 6-year-old Goldikova probably has one dance left, with her fourth trip to the United States likely still in the works next month. Goldikova’s first three trans-Atlantic trips produced wins in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and she appeared to run well enough in defeat Sunday to justify another start in the race.

Goldikova makes her 20th and final French start Sunday in the Prix de la Foret, attempting to win the 15th Group or Grade 1 race of her career in her Paris finale. Before being retired, Goldikova is expected to race once more following the Foret when she tries for a fourth straight Breeders’ Cup Mile win Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs.

Goldikova will make her next start in the Prix de la Foret on Oct. 2 at Longchamp as she prepares to attempt a fourth straight win in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Since finishing second in the Aug. 15 Prix Jacques le Marois, Goldikova had been tentatively pointed to Sunday’s Prix du Moulin, but trainer Freddie Head announced a change in plans this past weekend. Instead of the Moulin, Goldikova will go instead for the Foret, the race she used as a bridge to the Breeders’ Cup the last two years.