ARCADIA, Calif. – Midnight Bisou is coming back to where it all began, back to Santa Anita as presumptive favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Saturday, Nov. 2.

Undefeated this year in six starts, with 11 wins overall and $3.2 million in earnings, Midnight Bisou will be heavily favored Saturday in the Grade 2 Beldame at Belmont Park, after which another low-odds scenario is likely for the Distaff.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita will be the subject of international attention beginning Friday and through its 23-day autumn meeting, and not just because of the 10 graded stakes on the opening two weekends or the Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 1-2.

Perhaps, now is the time.

Three years ago, owner Dennis Albaugh and trainer Dale Romans brought Not This Time to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. At that time, Romans said Not This Time had the potential to be the best horse he ever trained.

Not This Time was beaten a neck by Classic Empire in the Juvenile, emerged from the race with an injury, and never raced again.

This year, when the Breeders’ Cup returns to Santa Anita for the 10th time, Albaugh and Romans also will be returning with another top contender for the $2 million Juvenile in Dennis’ Moment.

The biggest story when it comes to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita might not be who will run in the race, but who won’t.

The list of potential no-shows among the elite of the division could start with two-time reigning champion Roy H, who defeated Imperial Hint by a length at Del Mar in 2017 and Whitmore by 3 3/4 lengths at Churchill Downs a year ago.

A rematch of the Pennsylvania Derby could be on at the Breeders’ Cup.

The trainers of both winner Math Wizard and runner-up Mr. Money said the Grade 1, $1 million Dirt Mile on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita is being considered for their charges. The horses finished a neck apart last Saturday.

“I think all options are on the table at the moment, the Dirt Mile and the Classic,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Tuesday of Breeders’ Cup choices for Math Wizard.

Bret Calhoun, who trains Mr. Money, said much the same Tuesday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bill Connelly will be at Keeneland and Churchill Downs this fall, but not in the same capacity under which he has operated for nearly 40 years.

Connelly, a trainer since 1980, is disbanding his stable to work as an assistant on the starting-gate crew.

“It was time for a change,” said Connelly, 63. “There are a lot of things that were involved, like some of my clients have died or left the business. I’ve had a very nice career, but yes, it was time.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Everything was going just great for the colt named Quip. The millionaire 4-year-old was coasting on the lead into the far turn of the Aug. 17 Pacific Classic at Del Mar, seemingly validating his status as the 3-1 second choice in the Grade 1 race.

Then it all came apart. Quip had no giddy-up and beat a steady fade to the wire, finishing 29 lengths back in ninth place after jockey Florent Geroux, knowing he was badly beaten, eased the colt inside the eighth pole.

Bricks and Mortar, unbeaten leader of the American turf division this year, may start in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile instead of the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, trainer Chad Brown said earlier this week. Both races are Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

Brown added that whichever race the seven-time stakes winner runs in, he is unlikely to race before then. Bricks and Mortar won his fifth stakes of 2019 in the Arlington Million at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 10 at Arlington Park

“If we put another race into him, it might be a little too much,” Brown said.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Norseman Racing Stable and trainer Sid Attard got their second win in the Bull Page Stakes last Sunday with the unbeaten Red Giveaway. They won the six-furlong sprint for Ontario-sired 2-year-olds with Mean Green in 2008, but the promising Red Giveaway is definitely a cut above that modest runner.

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint promises to get an oversubscribed field for the second time in as many runnings. Inaugurated last year at Churchill Downs, the $1 million race will be held Nov. 1 at Santa Anita as one of the five 2-year-old races comprising Future Stars Friday.

To no one’s surprise, trainer Wesley Ward has prospects aplenty for the Juvenile Turf Sprint in three fillies – Kimari, Cambria, and Karak – as well as an American Pharoah colt, Four Wheel Drive.

“We are getting serious,” Ward deadpanned this week from his Keeneland base.