Accelerate this year already has taken down the Santa Anita Handicap, Gold Cup at Santa Anita, and Pacific Classic. His trainer, John Sadler, hopes to make it a grand slam of 1 1/4-mile races on Nov. 3 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, victory in which would guarantee Accelerate an Eclipse Award as champion older dirt male.

“It’s why I’m here every day, even when I’m sick,” Sadler said this week at Santa Anita as he trudged through the stable area while fighting off a cold. “The horse is so solid. You just hope to continue to have good luck along the way.”

The turn of the season to fall traditionally signals the time for 3-year-olds to graduate to facing their elders. That collision course looks especially meaningful in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff – this year restored to the Saturday program – which will feature a stellar group of 3-year-old fillies, led by Kentucky Oaks winner Monomoy Girl.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita will launch a 20-cent jackpot pick six with the start of its 22-day autumn meeting on Friday, a season highlighted by Breeders’ Cup prep races over the next two weekends.

The Rainbow 6 has been popular at sister track Gulfstream Park and is being tried in Southern California for the first time on Friday. The entire pool is paid out if there is a single winner. If there is more than one winning ticket, 30 percent of the pool after takeout is carried over until there is a single winning ticket, or until a mandatory payout day.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A quarter crack and ensuing foot abscess has derailed Tatters to Riches, the California-based stakes winner who would have been among the favorites in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday at Remington Park.

Trainer Jeff Mullins confirmed Wednesday that Tatters to Riches would not travel, and will be out of serious training until recovering from an abscess in his left front.

“If it was just a quarter crack, he’d probably be training already,” Mullins said. “With the abscess, it’s going to take longer.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Weekend Hideaway, a New York-bred sprinter who won stakes races in seven consecutive years, has been retired from racing after being injured in his most recent workout, trainer Phil Serpe said Wednesday.

Serpe said Weekend Hideaway sustained a fracture of the inside sesamoid in a front leg. Weekend Hideaway had worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 on Saturday over Belmont’s main track.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than the host site is changing when the Breeders’ Cup moves to Churchill Downs in early November. Also coming are several changes to race distances, notably in the Nov. 3 Filly and Mare Turf, which goes from last year’s 1 1/8-mile distance at Del Mar to a three-turn, 1 3/8-mile race at Churchill.

Former jockey Leslie Hulet, who for years was the all-time winningest rider at Finger Lakes and who won the Grade 1 Whitney in 1981 aboard Fio Rito, died last Friday at age 69.

Hulet was the leading rider at Finger Lakes six times. He held the record for wins at the Farmington, N.Y., track from 1999 until 2017, when John Davila Jr. passed him.

Hulet rode at Finger Lakes from 1972 until 1999. He is a member of the track’s Hall of Fame. He retired with 3,816 wins.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Joey Gee Thoroughbreds and trainer Andrew Smith won last year’s Victorian Queen Stakes with Line of Vision. They bypassed the six-furlong sprint for Ontario-sired 2-year-old fillies last Saturday with the unbeaten Speedy Soul, who will travel 1 1/16 miles in her next outing.

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, the new kid on the block for this year’s event, may have a mix of domestic and international talent for its inaugural running.

The Juvenile Turf Sprint’s addition to the Breeders’ Cup program was announced in February. The $1 million race, contested at about 5 1/2 furlongs, joins the lineup for a Friday card that also includes the $2 million Juvenile, $2 million Juvenile Fillies, $1 million Juvenile Turf, and $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf.

The favorites for the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies may be exceptional, yet neither filly ran exceptionally fast last time out.

Serengeti Empress won the Pocahontas Stakes by more than 19 lengths, but her 1:45.47 time in the 1 1/16-mile race at Churchill Downs earned a 78 Beyer that does not rank among the top two dozen figures this year by a juvenile filly on dirt.

Bellafina is slower still. Although she won the Del Mar Debutante by more than four lengths, her 1:25.51 time for seven furlongs earned a mere 75 Beyer.