Battle of Midway will be able to claim a unique distinction were he to win the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile for the second year in a row on Nov. 3. He would not be the first two-time winner – think Goldencents – but rather he would be the first to win the race at a two different configurations.

Battle of Midway won the Dirt Mile at two turns last year at Del Mar. This year, the race will be run at one turn with the move back to Churchill Downs.

Mind Your Biscuits is so versatile that he could be a major player in three Breeders’ Cup races, ranging from the 1 1/4-mile Classic to the Dirt Mile to the six-furlong Sprint.

After Mind Your Biscuits won the 1 1/8-mile Lukas Classic last Saturday at Churchill Downs, trainer and co-owner Chad Summers now must decide whether to stretch him out even farther in the $6 million Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs or to cut him back in distance.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Not only have purses been fattened here at Keeneland, with the projected per-day average of $738,000 being a track record, but the money will be substantially bigger at the Churchill fall meet, which begins Oct. 28.

Maiden-special races at Churchill will be worth as much as $76,000, and allowances will range from $82,000 to $85,000.

Both tracks are reaping the benefits of the historical racing machines at facilities nearby – The Red Mile in Lexington and the brand-new Derby City Gaming in Louisville.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainers Tom Amoss and Steve Asmussen, both longtime regulars on the Kentucky circuit, are riding some serious momentum into this fall Keeneland meet.

Amoss not only sent out Serengeti Empress to an eye-catching triumph in the Pocahontas Stakes while topping the trainer standings at the 11-day September meet at Churchill Downs, but he won the Oklahoma Derby on Sunday night at Remington Park when Lone Sailor eked out a victory in a three-way photo.

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.