ARCADIA, Calif. – The temperamental Paradise Woods is like a roller coaster. Sometimes she goes up, other times down.

Trainer John Shirreffs has the best seat on the ride, but all year an element of uncertainty has shadowed Paradise Woods. Sometimes she dazzles, other times she fizzles.

When she minds her manners, Paradise Woods makes it simple. Sunday at Santa Anita, she scored a solid, pace-pressing victory in the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes to emerge as the top California candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

The West regional to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies was won last week by the race’s pro-tem favorite, Bast, and this weekend finalists will emerge from races in Kentucky and New York, with top contenders set to go in the Alcibiades on Friday at Keeneland and the Frizette on Sunday at Belmont Park.

MIAMI – Friday’s feature at Gulfstream Park West is a $45,000 optional-claiming dash carded at five furlongs on the turf for fillies and mares. The headliner lured a wide-open field of seven, led by the speedy Fallen Leaf, Catharsis, and Nikee Kan.

Fallen Leaf may be favored off a three-length victory in a race taken off the turf and moved to a sloppy main track on Aug. 29 at Gulfstream Park. The win was the first in just four starts this season for Fallen Leaf.

MIAMI – In Reality winner Chance It isn’t the only locally based 2-year-old who may have earned a trip to the Breeders’ Cup after winning a stakes last Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

The connections of both Onyx, who captured the $75,000 Our Dear Peggy to remain undefeated on turf, and Graceful Kitten, who remained unbeaten after his victory in the $75,000 Armed Forces, also are strongly considering tossing their hats into the Breeders’ Cup ring for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and Juvenile Turf, respectively, on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita.

A celebration of life for David Pettinger, the retired jockey whose brother Don Pettinger followed him into race riding, is scheduled for Saturday in Holly, Colo. David Pettinger died Sept. 22 in Eads, Colo. He was 66.

David Pettinger was a Holly native who launched his riding career in 1970 and went on to win more than 60 stakes, including the Grade 2 Cornhusker twice, with Win Stat and Hold Your Tricks. David Pettinger also was aboard Win Stat when he set a world record at Oaklawn. The jockey was a regular in the Midwest and was closely aligned with trainer Don Von Hemel.

Gold Standard made an impression in her stakes debut Sunday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks, when she finished second by a half-length to Lady Apple. Gold Standard dueled between horses for much of the race, and was coming back along the rail in the late stages. She had won three straight races leading up to the Remington Oaks.

Lady Apple helped lift Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen to one of his winningest days in racing Sunday when she captured the Grade 3, $200,000 Remington Park Oaks. It was the sixth of Asmussen’s seven wins on the card, tying his personal record for a single program. He first won seven races on a card on July 14, 2002, at Lone Star Park.

Imperial Hint earned himself yet another trip to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with his hard-fought victory over Firenze Fire in Saturday’s Grade 1 Vosburgh.

But Imperial Hint may not be the only horse going back to the Sprint for a third straight year. On Friday, Whitmore will try to earn his way back to the race for the third straight time when he faces 10 rivals in the Grade 2 Phoenix at Keeneland, which awards the winner a berth in the Sprint.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – An outstanding renewal of the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes is expected Sunday, with Elate sure to be favored in a lineup to include Blue Prize, She’s a Julie, Dunbar Road, and a few more fillies and mares.

Secondary features on the Sunday card are the Grade 3 Bourbon and the Indian Summer. All three races are Win and You’re In events toward the Breeders’ Cup. Sunday entries were to be drawn Thursday.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – A contingent of 28 Chad Brown horses was scheduled to arrive Wednesday at Keeneland, well in time for the three-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer’s annual fall meet assault.