LEXINGTON, Ky. – No word if Chad Brown got to shake hands with Queen Elizabeth II when in England for the Tattersalls Sales early this week, nor whether he got to tell her he’s hoping to once again win the race that will be run in her honor back in the colonies Saturday.

Missed opportunities aside, Brown will be all business when on hand at Keeneland to send out three of the favorites in the 36th running of the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, the sixth and final Grade 1 of the fall meet.

The role of favorite for the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita may become clear in the next week.

Enable, the brilliant mare who was second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Sunday and won the 2018 BC Turf at Churchill Downs, may be sent to California for a final career start. Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for owner Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms, wrote in an email Tuesday that a decision on Enable’s plans will be made “in the coming week or so.”

Imperial Hint, Engage, and Omaha Beach earned themselves berths into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint for winning the Vosburgh, Phoenix, and Santa Anita Sprint Championship, respectively, over the past two weeks. Their respective wins came at the direct expense of Firenze Fire, Whitmore, and Shancelot, all of whom ran too good to lose while coming within a nose, a half-length, and a head of winning one of the final three Breeders’ Cup Challenge races for the Sprint.

Mr. Money, who won four consecutive graded stakes between May and August, is being pointed to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, trainer Bret Calhoun said Wednesday.

Mr. Money had been under consideration for other upcoming stakes, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He last raced Sept. 21, finishing second by a neck in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing.

“We wanted to work out of that race, see him train a couple of weeks,” Calhoun said. “We are definitely pointing toward the Dirt Mile.”

Joel Rosario will be the new rider on McKinzie in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert said Wednesday.

Rosario will take over from Mike Smith, who has ridden McKinzie in all 13 of his starts, which included seven wins and five seconds.

By virtue of her victory in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera last Sunday at Longchamp, Villa Marina established herself as one of the main threats to Sistercharlie in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

The win was the second straight in a group stakes – and third overall – at 1 1/4 miles for Villa Marina. The Filly and Mare Turf will be run at 1 1/4 miles. Villa Marina’s lone loss in her last four starts came in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, when she finished fourth to winner Star Catcher at 1 1/2 miles.

MIAMI – While trainer Saffie Joseph will take Pennsylvania Derby winner Math Wizard to California for the Breeders’ Cup, he and the connections of In Reality winner Chance It have decided to bypass the BC Juvenile to await the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs on Nov. 30.

“He’s already run five times and we didn’t want to push him to make the Breeders’ Cup,” Joseph explained. “We’re looking more at the big picture with him, and waiting for the Jockey Club gives us extra time, which should be beneficial to him.”

A career-best effort by Frank’s Rockette when finishing second to Wicked Whisper in the Frizette Stakes on Sunday at Belmont Park has her in line for a potential trip to California for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 1, according to her trainer, Bill Mott.

Frank’s Rockette, in her fourth start and racing as a far as a mile for the first time, got a Beyer Speed Figure of 82 chasing wire-to-wire winner Wicked Whisper. That gives Frank’s Rockette, a daughter of Into Mischief, a record of 2 wins and 2 seconds in 4 starts.

MIAMI – It’s hard for a horse to earn a spot in a Breeders’ Cup race. If they are based in South Florida this year, it seems it is even harder to get them there.

Stormy Embrace won an expenses-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint for a second year in a row by virtue of her victory in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney this past summer at Gulfstream Park. Trainer Kathleen O’Connell is planning on running her in the Breeders’ Cup again, but only if she can get her a direct flight to California, which is a bit problematic at the moment.

While emphasizing that he’s “not ruling anything out this week,” trainer Richard Mandella said he is leaning toward running Omaha Beach in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita following his terrific comeback win last Saturday in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, which was a Win and You’re In for the BC Sprint.

Mandella said after the race that the Sprint, Dirt Mile, and Classic – all on Nov. 2 – all were potentially in play. But with a couple of days to think things over and observe Omaha Beach, he said the Classic might be asking too much.