ARCADIA, Calif. – The turf miler Bal a Bali worked six furlongs in 1:13 at Santa Anita on Thursday, and trainer Richard Mandella confirmed he will start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 4.

Bal a Bali was sixth in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 20 in his most recent start, but has worked to Mandella’s satisfaction in recent weeks.

“He looked really good,” Mandella said. “He runs well fresh.”

Mandella said he timed Bal a Bali in “1:12 and change,” but joked “maybe I was nervous” and stopped the watch too soon.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bullards Alley, the runaway winner of the Grade 1 Canadian International at Woodbine last Sunday, is a confirmed starter in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 4.

Trainer Tim Glyshaw said the decision was made Wednesday evening after consulting with owners Wayne Spalding and Faron McCubbins.

“He ran so well in his last race, or we wouldn’t be considering it,” Glyshaw said. “The owners have had horses for 12 years, and they can own horses for 30 years and not have this opportunity.”

Trainer Aidan O’Brien has won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf three times in the race’s 10-year history, and he figures to have the favorite for the 2017 edition at Del Mar if U S Navy Flag comes to run.

U S Navy Flag would be in contention for the most accomplished European 2-year-old to run in the Nov. 3 BC Juvenile Turf if the colt becomes part of an expected large shipment of O’Brien-trained runners at Del Mar. U S Navy Flag won the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes this fall, and this past Saturday, he captured the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket under Ryan Moore.

Trainer Richard Fahey has been saying for weeks that it wouldn’t be possible to commit Ribchester to the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 4 before the horse ran in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes Saturday at Ascot. This week, Fahey opened the door to a fall campaign that could have Ribchester headed to Japan instead of California.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Travis Stone, who has split the race-calling duties at Aqueduct the last three winters with John Imbriale, will not be returning to the New York Racing Association this winter.

Stone, the regular race-caller at Churchill Downs, said he doesn’t want to move around so frequently.

ELMONT, N.Y. – When Aqueduct opens its fall meet on Nov. 3, it will unveil a new turf course. On Wednesday, horses were permitted on the course for the first time, with trainer Rudy Rodriguez sending out four horses to gallop over it.

“There were some parts on the [clubhouse] turn where the grass came back up, but most of it looked pretty good,” said Rodriguez, who was on one of the horses himself. “It looks like it’s holding up really good. Of course, it’ll be different when you breeze over it or when they start racing on it.”

ELMONT, N.Y. – Even on New York Showcase Day, trainer Chad Brown looks tough to beat.

Brown will have runners in just three of the eight stakes for New York-breds on Saturday, but he will be live in all three.

In the $300,000 Empire Classic, the richest race on the 11-race program, Brown will send out the multiple-stakes-winning 3-year-old Twisted Tom in a nine-horse field. Twisted Tom has won five of his last six starts, the lone defeat being a sixth-place finish in the Belmont Stakes.

ARCADIA, Calif. – When jockey Drayden Van Dyke reached the 15th hole at the Santa Anita Golf Course during a charity tournament on Oct. 10, the round was not going well.

“I played like crap all day long,” he recalled.

Then on the 15th hole, a par 3 at about 175 yards, he recorded his first hole-in-one by knocking in a 4-wood.

“It was the best shot I ever hit,” he said. “It bounced and fell in.”

Van Dyke did not realize he had achieved a hole-in-one until he arrived at the green.

ARCADIA, Calif. – This may be a busy autumn for Richard’s Boy, a four-time stakes winner trained by Peter Miller.

Saturday at Santa Anita, Richard’s Boy is scheduled to start in the $100,000 California Flag Handicap for statebreds at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course. If the gelding runs well, he will be pre-entered on Monday for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4, Miller said in a text message on Wednesday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Average field size has shown growth at the Santa Anita autumn meeting, months after the track canceled four days of racing in the spring because of insufficient entries.

Through Sunday, the 11th day of the 19-day meeting, fields averaged 8.87 starters per race compared with 8.62 starters during a similar period at the 2016 autumn meeting. Fields averaged 8.59 runners for the entire 2016 meeting, which included the Breeders’ Cup races.