LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Creative Cause, a leading contender for the Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, did not train over a wet track at Churchill Downs Friday morning, a day after an incident in which he was kicked by a pony during training hours.

Trainer Mike Harrington said his colt was not injured by the kick, saying it only “brushed the hair” of his colt’s hock. He said the horse did not train Friday in no part because of the kick, although he did not specify why.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Churchill Downs's main track was rated muddy for training hours on Friday morning, but track superintendent Butch Lehr said he thought it would be "close to good" by first post time at 2 p.m. Eastern for the first of two Breeders' Cup cards here.

Lehr said Churchill Downs absorbed approximately three-quarters of an inch of rain with the storm that first began Thursday morning. Although it was cloudy Friday morning, the clouds were dissipating.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Sagamore Farm trumpeted its return to prominence with a Breeders’ Cup shocker last year at Churchill Downs when Shared Account took the BC Filly and Mare Turf at 45-1. Sagamore got a little more of the same on the eve of the two-day 2011 Breeders’ Cup when Humble and Hungry rallied under Jose Lezcano to post an 11-1 upset Thursday at Churchill in the Grade 3, $111,200 Commonwealth Turf.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Hold off on those end-of-career encomiums focused on multiple champion Gio Ponti. That Gio Ponti will go to stud at owner Shane Ryan’s Castleton-Lyons farm for 2012 has been decided, but it is not entirely certain that Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Mile, in which Gio Ponti might be second choice behind Goldikova, will be his final start.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There were Breeders’ Cup towels everywhere on the racetrack Thursday at Churchill Downs, not surprising with the first of the two Cup cards little more than 24 hours away. Unfortunately, rain began falling shortly before 9:30 a.m., closing the turf course and forcing the connections of nearly a dozen Breeders’ Cup runners to call an unexpected audible most notably Sea Moon (Turf), who was scheduled to work six furlongs on the grass.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There is no glass ceiling at the Breeders’ Cup. In recent years, quite often it has been ladies, first.

Goldikova has won the Breeders’ Cup Mile the last three years racing against the boys. Two years ago, Zenyatta won the Classic, and she was the focal point of last year’s Breeders’ Cup, when she just missed in her attempt to win the Classic for the second straight year.

Switch, the second choice on the morning line for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs on Friday, will be withdrawn from the Keeneland sale on Monday and will race next year at 5, according to trainer John Sadler.

“The original plan was to sell her, but we’ve decided recently to go on and run her again,” Sadler said. “That’s good news for us.”

Turbulent Descent, the solid favorite for the Filly and Mare Sprint, also will be withdrawn from the Fasig-Tipton sale on Sunday and will race next year, according to trainer Mike Puype.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With horses converging on Churchill Downs from all over the world for the Breeders’ Cup, there are numerous races Saturday in which many runners have limited experience racing at Churchill Downs.

The $85,000 Dream Supreme for 3-year-old fillies, the first stakes race on the Breeders’ Cup undercard, is a clear exception.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Headed by last year’s winner, Grassy, a field of seven entered Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Red Smith Handicap. Scheduled for 1 3/8 miles on turf, the Red Smith will be run for the 52nd time and is New York’s last graded stakes of the season in the male grass division.

Joe Bravo, who guided Grassy to a come-from-behind win in the 2010 Red Smith, is back on the Christophe Clement-trained horse, who exits a third-place finish in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With a runner in the first and one in the last and 7 1/2 hours in between, Saturday portends to be a long – but potentially successful – day for trainer Eddie Kenneally.

After sending out morning-line favorite Jump Up in a first-level allowance in the opener at 12:05 p.m., Kenneally may have the horse to beat, Buckleupbuttercup, in the Grade 2, $150,000 Chilukki Stakes for fillies and mares at one mile. Post time for the Chilukki is 7:40 p.m.