Sistercharlie’s bid to become the first repeat winner of the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf won’t be so easy after all.

Magical, who came within three-quarters of a length of Enable in last year’s $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, will this year contest the Filly and Mare Turf, trainer Aidan O’Brien told reporters in Europe on Tuesday. While O’Brien pre-entered Magical in both the Turf and Filly and Mare Turf – and listed the Turf as first preference – he said she would run against females. O’Brien plans to run English Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck in the Turf.

Let’s hear it for the ladies in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Got Stormy, a 4-year-old filly, and Uni, a 5-year-old mare, are the two most exciting prospects for the $2 million Mile, which drew an overflow group of pre-entries this week.

There were few surprises when pre-entries were announced Wednesday for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint, considered one of the most competitive and anticipated races on the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup program.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The only undefeated stakes winner pre-entered for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita is a filly yet to start at the race distance of a mile.

Alms, trained by Mike Stidham, has won both of her starts, both at six furlongs on turf at Belmont Park – a maiden special weight race on Sept. 19 and the Grade 3 Matron Stakes on Oct. 5. In both races, Alms rallied wide from off the pace to win by at least a length.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With Florent Geroux still recovering from the sternum injury he suffered in an Oct. 13 training spill at Keeneland, trainer Brad Cox has confirmed Javier Castellano as the jockey for Owendale in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

Geroux said Wednesday that his recovery is going well and that he is scheduled for another visit with his doctor next week.

The 15 horses who were pre-entered Monday in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita are based on three different continents, and have made their last starts over nine different racetracks. The dynamic mix is led by Omaha Beach, a winner of his last four starts and the 6-5 favorite on the early line set by Daily Racing Form handicapper Brad Free.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Shane Wilson is wading in deeper waters and likes it. Wilson is back in Kentucky from his Louisiana homeland, seeking another graded stakes triumph with Mocito Rojo, easily his best horse in more than two decades of training.

Mocito Rojo, a winner in 17 of 25 starts, is one of the favorites Saturday in the closing-day feature of the Keeneland fall meet, the Grade 2, $200,000 Fayette Stakes. A field of 10 older horses is entered in the 1 1/8-mile race.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A dozen fillies and mares were pre-entered in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff, but only one was pre-entered with a perfect record in 2019.

Midnight Bisou, 7 for 7 this season, figures as one of the most heavily fancied Breeders’ Cup favorites on Saturday, Nov. 2. One reason is she never loses. The other is that her main challenger Elate was cross-entered in the Distaff and the Classic, and is expected to run in the Classic.

There are several familiar faces in the oversubscribed group of pre-entries for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Two-time defending race winner Stormy Liberal is looking to turn his fortunes of this season around, while Om and Pure Sensation, who have both placed in this race in past years, come in for another try in solid form.

The $1 Juvenile Turf Sprint drew 26 pre-entries – most among the 14 Breeders’ Cup races, set for Nov. 1-2 – but even 100 more couldn’t obscure the notion that Wesley Ward brings a strong hand to the five-furlong race.

Ward trains Four Wheel Drive and Kimari, who could be the two favorites, as well as Cambria, who also made the 12-horse cutoff. Ward also has Karak among the 14 alternates.