ELMONT, N.Y. – For most of the year, trainer Chad Brown has been too busy moving forward to take time to look back. But as interest increased in Lady Eli’s remarkable return to Grade 1 form after her battle with life-threatening laminitis, Brown has begun thinking about where his filly is and where she’s been.

At this time last year, Lady Eli was on a farm in Kentucky getting some paddock time while on the upswing from laminitis. The illness arose after she stepped on a nail while walking back to her barn following a victory in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks on July 4, 2015.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita officials are hopeful that the Breeders’ Cup races Friday and Saturday will draw at least 100,000 fans for the two days.

“The weather looks right,” said track senior vice president Joe Morris. “The presales are strong. We should be there.”

Morris said approximately 35,000 people are expected to attend Friday’s program, while Saturday’s attendance is predicted to reach 65,000.

“We could get close to 70,000,” Morris said.

On the face of things, it will be a fairly standard Saturday for Mort Fink. He and his wife, Elaine, in their suburban Chicago home, will flip on a racing channel and place some bets.

The Saturday gambling used to happen at Arlington’s simulcast parlor. Fink is 87. He’s long dealt with diabetes, and there have been more recent setbacks. “I have no balance and can’t walk by myself,” he said. It got to where he couldn’t stand feeling folks’ pity when he and his wife went to play the races.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Miss Southern Miss, the winner of the Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita in her turf debut Oct. 10, will miss Friday’s $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita because of a sore shin, trainer Keith Desormeaux said on Monday.

Desormeaux said the injury was detected Monday following a gallop. Miss Southern Miss was a leading contender for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf on the basis of her recent win.

“It’s a shame,” Desormeaux said. “She won’t be able to enter. We’ll probably give her 30 to 45 days.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Joking, who went from being a $20,000 claimer to a Grade 1 winner, was entered Monday for Saturday’s $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint but is not expected to run after developing a temperature last Friday upon his arrival to Southern California, according to Charlton Baker, his owner and trainer.

Joking has not been to the track since arriving at Santa Anita on Friday, and Baker said it would take "divine intervention" for the horse to run in the Sprint.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bob Baffert said he needs Klimt to be sharper earlier in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile than he was in the FrontRunner Stakes a month ago.

On Monday, Klimt went a solid half-mile in 47.32 seconds over the main track at Santa Anita. Working in company with the maiden Master Play, Klimt went in splits of 11.79 seconds and 23.27 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.66.

ARCADIA, Calif. – California Chrome and Arrogate, the top two choices on the morning line for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Santa Anita, both gave every indication on Monday morning that they are set to give their best in their much-anticipated battle.

California Chrome merely galloped in his first morning here after traveling on Sunday from his base at Los Alamitos, but he looked terrific doing it, while Arrogate turned in a sensational workout in his final prep for the Classic. Effinex, the runner-up in last year’s Classic, also worked.

ARCADIA, Calif. – By the Moon was flown to Santa Anita from her New York base on Oct. 4, a full month prior to the Breeders’ Cup. It’s a different approach – the vast majority of shippers don’t arrive until much later – but owner Samantha Siegel and trainer Michelle Nevin thought it was a good idea for a filly who figures as one of the fringe contenders Saturday in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Arrogate resides in trainer Bob Baffert’s Santa Anita barn in a stall that has webbing reading, “American Pharoah: Triple Crown winner” draped across the front. As with American Pharoah a year ago, Arrogate will not have raced since the Travers when he attempts to win the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Saturday.

And while American Pharoah certainly was far more accomplished than Arrogate, they share a mysterious backstory regarding their appearance, which in Arrogate’s case involves a mouth that only an orthodontist could love.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Time and Motion, the winner of the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, is pointing to a pair of stakes in December in Southern California, trainer Jimmy Toner said Sunday.

Toner said Time and Motion will run in the Grade 1, $300,000 Matriarch at Del Mar on Dec. 3 and use that as a prep for the Grade 1, $300,000 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 31.

:: Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Results, replays, charts, and more