ELMONT, N.Y. – The sudden passing of Grade 1 winner Effinex on Oct. 18 due to a ruptured pulmonary artery stunned his trainer, Jimmy Jerkens. Effinex, 7, was at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds following his first season at stud.

Jerkens trained Effinex for the final 21 starts of his career, during which he won five stakes including the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs in 2015. That victory was particularly gratifying to Jerkens because it came just four weeks after he finished second to American Pharoah in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer David Jacobson did not have a last-minute change of heart and pre-enter Stallwalkin’ Dude in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 4 at Del Mar. Instead, Jacobson will be quite content for the 7-year-old gelding to seek a repeat victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It’s on.

The showdown between Gun Runner and Arrogate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic is shaping up as an epic battle based on the way both worked Monday at Santa Anita in their penultimate drills for the Nov. 4 race at Del Mar.

They, along with the likes of Collected and West Coast, were among those pre-entered Monday for the Classic, which will determine Horse of the Year, but they are undoubtedly the top two betting choices in the race, and both appear to be heading into the race the right way.

Zia Park has drawn the New Mexico Cup card of 12 stakes, to be run Sunday. The races are all restricted to New Mexico-breds, with eight for Thoroughbreds and four for Quarter Horses.

The races are worth a combined $2 million, making the card the richest of the Zia meet.

The richest offering for Thoroughbreds is the $180,000 Rocky Gulch, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds and up. A field of 12 was drawn for the stakes.

The $170,000 Peppers Pride is for fillies and mares at a mile. It also drew a field of 12.

A winner of turf stakes at Del Mar and Retama Park, Terra’s Angel has accomplished a good deal this year at 2 and has one more goal for the season: A stakes win on dirt in December at Remington Park.

Terra’s Angel is being pointed to the $100,000 Trapeze, her co-owner and trainer, Terry Eoff, said Monday. The mile race for 2-year-old fillies closes the Remington meet Dec. 17.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Caledonia Road, runner-up to Separationofpowers in the Grade 1 Frizette, will run in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 4 at Del Mar, trainer Ralph Nicks confirmed Sunday.

Nicks said Mike Smith, the winningest rider in Breeders’ Cup history, has the mount.

Caledonia Road, a daughter of Quality Road, made her first two starts for Luke Paiement’s Zoom and Fish Stable and Charlie Spiring. They have sold a third of Caledonia Road to the Newtown Anner Stud of Maurice and Samantha Regan.

ELMONT, N.Y. – By the Moon put the finishing touches on her major preparations for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint by working five furlongs in 1:00.68 on Monday morning over the Belmont Park main track.

Exercises rider Tomesh Singh never moved his hands on By the Moon as she cruised through an opening three furlongs in 36.00 seconds and got her final quarter in 24.68. She galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.93.

“She breezed very good, I was happy with her,” Singh said.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Christophe Clement has been snakebit when it comes to the Breeders’ Cup, having failed to win a race from his 32 starters, but with half of those runners finishing in the top four, including five seconds.

Clement, who prefers to accentuate the positive, will be bringing three horses to Del Mar for this year’s Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 3-4, and he’s quite confident the trio will give a solid account of themselves. Two of those runners put in their final workouts Monday at Belmont Park.

Mia Mischief, a 16-length maiden winner at Keeneland, and a handful of horses exiting Grade 1 races are among those expected in action Sunday when Churchill opens a 21-day fall meet with a Stars of Tomorrow card for 2-year-olds.

Mia Mischief figures as a solid favorite in the filly division of the Spendthrift Stallion Stakes, while Ezmosh, sixth as the second wagering choice in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, could fill a similar role in the male division. Both seven-furlong races offer purses of $200,000.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – When Kentucky horsemen arrive in the Del Mar stable area in the coming days and see the familiar face of Steve Hargrave, they might think they took a wrong turn somewhere.

Hargrave, director of backside operations at Churchill Downs, was hired by Breeders’ Cup Ltd. to serve in a similar capacity for the upcoming championships in Southern California. Hargrave also worked the 2015 BC at Keeneland “but this is my first one outside of Kentucky,” he said. He arrived Friday in Del Mar.