LEXINGTON, Ky. – Big fields are the rule – with no exceptions – for the five stakes Saturday at Keeneland, which will be witnessed by a huge crowd.

The $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile, the richest race of the 17-day fall meet, actually drew 18 entries, but two were excluded and only as many as 14 can start. The other four Saturday stakes didn’t get quite as many entries, but no fewer than 10 were entered in any of them.

First post for the 11-race Saturday card is 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with the last race going at 6:24. In reverse order, this is the stakes lineup:

In its 126 prior runnings, the historic Futurity at Belmont Park has been won by racing greats such as Domino (1893), Colin (1907), Man o’ War (1919), Citation (1947), Tom Fool (1951), Native Dancer (1952), Nashua (1954), Bold Ruler (1956), Secretariat (1972), Affirmed (1977), and Holy Bull (1993).

For owners and trainers of Europe’s leading older horses, the autumn schedule is fairly clear – first the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and then maybe the Breeders’ Cup in the United States.

Prize money and prestige play a major role in the decision of which race to run in, or whether to run in both.

Sunday’s Group 1 Arc de Triomphe will be worth approximately $5.76 million and is Europe’s richest race, compared to $4 million for the BC Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3, the richest turf race in the United States.

STICKNEY, Ill. – The first race of the meet is a $6,250 maiden claimer with a $7,800 purse. The first horse in the first race is named The King’s Hero. He’s trained by Hugo Rodriguez, son of trainer Lalo Rodriguez, former longtime assistant to the late trainer Tom Tomillo, once a Chicago mainstay. The King’s Hero has raced twice. Both starts produced Beyer Speed Figures less than zero.

That’s a decent summation of the 44-day fall-winter race meet, which starts Friday at Hawthorne Racecourse.

Forty Under trained like a good horse for his unveiling July 28 at Saratoga. His trainer, Jeremiah Englehart, was excited to see him run, and so must have been owner Bill Parcells, the former National Football League coach who campaigns Forty Under using the nom de course August Dawn Farm.

But Forty Under fumbled the snap on his first play under center. He showed a bit of early speed after breaking from post 1 but quickly threw in the towel, fading to ninth, beaten almost 18 lengths.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A month away from the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs, trainer Chad Brown anticipates running only Sistercharlie and Fourstar Crook in the Nov. 3 Filly and Mare Turf, a decision influenced by the race being at 1 3/8 miles this year.

The six-furlong distance of the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket last Saturday did not suit The Mackem Bullet. The promising filly wants a longer race, which is why trainer Brian Ellison has targeted the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2 for The Mackem Bullet’s first start at a mile.

“It’s a dream come true to have a filly that’s good enough to go out there,” Ellison said on Wednesday from a yearling sale in Ireland.

“She’s a very good filly. It should be spot-on.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Marley’s Freedom will train up to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint after trainer Bob Baffert decided early this week that the star filly will not run Sunday in the Grade 3 L.A. Woman at her home track, Santa Anita.

Marley’s Freedom, owned by Cicero Farms, has ascended to the top of the division in recent months, most recently winning the Grade 1 Ballerina by 3 1/4 lengths on Aug. 25 at Saratoga. The 4-year-old Blame filly worked a half-mile in 47.60 seconds Monday at Santa Anita, but Baffert said he now prefers to train her straight into the race.

Blue Prize has already won a pair of graded stakes at Breeders’ Cup host track Churchill Downs this season. Blue Prize keeps her eyes on the prize as she travels just up the highway to make her final prep start in the Grade 1, $500,000 Spinster Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland.

“This filly loves it here at Churchill Downs,” trainer Ignacio Correas said. “She’s just improved since we got her from Argentina, and I think she’s getting better.”

Trainer Jason Servis is preparing the trio of Rainbow Heir, Vision Perfect, and World of Trouble for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. Now all they have to do is get into the race, which could be oversubscribed.

Rainbow Heir, 8, has started only twice this year. He won the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint in January, and in his September return to the races finished a fast-closing third in the Turf Monster at Parx Racing.

World of Trouble, 3, is 2 for 2 on turf, but both of those races came against 3-year-olds in ungraded stakes.