Instead of packing their bags and heading to Churchill Downs in quest of the $1 million jackpot up for grabs in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, trainer King Leatherbury and his star 5-year-old Ben’s Cat will be staying home to shoot for a consolation prize in the $75,000 Laurel Dash on Saturday at Laurel Park.

Leatherbury, 78, had hoped to find investors to pay the $100,000 supplemental fee necessary to get Ben’s Cat into next weekend’s Breeders’ Cup. But when that dream didn’t materialize, he had to settle for a much smaller purse at his home track.

LEXINGTON, Ky.  - Keeneland Racecourse acknowledged that it had miscalculated the payoff for the pick three wager that ended in the sixth race on Wednesday's card, but the acknowledgment - made just before the ninth race - may not help many bettors.

The miscalculation affected any pick three wager that was live going into the sixth race, the third leg of the bet. The sixth race was moved off the turf shortly before the race went off because of a powerful thunderstorm that moved into Lexington midway through the card, but after betting on the pick three had closed.

ELMONT, N.Y. – After a couple of attempts at big money around two turns, J J’s Lucky Train will cut back to his preferred distance of seven furlongs when he runs in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. – On paper, Friday’s $60,000 Shady Character Stakes for 3-year-olds came up extremely strong with a couple of established stakes winners like Big Blue Kitten and King Congie and several up-and-coming runners such as Data Link and Dynafortwo.

How the race actually shapes up on the track will be dependent on Mother Nature. With more than a half-inch of rain expected on Thursday, course condition – if the race even remains on the turf – will determine who actually runs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wednesday morning was another quiet one for those of us on the Breeders’ Cup workout watch at Churchill Downs with only two recorded breezes on the tab. Both those horses, Giant Ryan (Sprint) and Trinniberg (Juvenile Sprint) came from the barn of trainer Bisnath Parboo and both those works were over and done by 7:30 a.m. Most of the gallop activity here also took place under the lights, before dawn, due in large part to the threat of heavy showers which did not materialize until after the track closed at 10 a.m.

Midday won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2009 and finished second by a neck as the odds-on favorite in the race last fall. But a third Filly and Mare Turf probably is not in the cards for Midday. Her connections are aiming higher – and farther – in 2011, with Midday more likely for the $3 million Turf than the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf.

Classic rivals Uncle Mo and Havre de Grace might get the most ink during Breeders’ Cup Week 2011. Whippersnappers. Uncle Mo barely had been weaned from his mother’s side, and Havre de Grace was a yearling in the earliest phases of training when Goldikova won her first Breeders’ Cup Mile, way back in 2008. Goldikova was a 3-year-old then. Twice that age, she returns this week to Churchill Downs, where she won her third BC Mile in 2010 and seeks a fourth victory in the race Nov. 5.

With earnings of $2,231,661, Stolis Winner is Quarter Horse racing’s all-time leading money earner. This year, he has done little to help that total.

With one win in five starts and earnings of $68,080, the 5-year-old Stolis Winner is having the quietest season of his four-year career, highlighted by wins in the 2008 All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs and 2009 Texas Classic Derby at Lone Star Park.

The list of major accomplishments could grow this weekend.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The final weekend of October will feature the final turf races of the Woodbine meeting. Weather permitting, of course.

The River Memories, for fillies and mares, is slated for Saturday and the Labeeb, for 3-year-olds and upward, will go Sunday.

Both the River Memories and Labeeb are $100,000 overnight stakes scheduled for one mile of turf. Both were inaugurated in 2004 and the second and third editions were taken off the grass and run over a mile and 70 yards on the main track.

One California speedball was replaced by another when pre-entries for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile were announced Wednesday.

When Twirling Candy was ruled out of the Dirt Mile due to injury, it seemed like California’s best chance to win that race was gone. Now, the West Coast could be strongly represented by The Factor, a seriously fast 3-year-old trained by Bob Baffert.