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.

An investment trainer Don Von Hemel made back in 2006 could reach a pinnacle Friday night if Now I Know wins her stakes debut during the Oklahoma Classics program at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. She will be seeking to remain undefeated in four starts in the $90,000 Lassie, which is one of the night’s eight restricted stakes worth a combined $1 million.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The consolation to Soul Candy’s six-race winless streak this year is that most of the horses who have beaten him will start in Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.

Soul Candy, for one, is staying put in California. He will start in Saturday’s $175,000 California Cup Classic at Santa Anita, a race he won last year under different circumstances.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tom Proctor already has had the most productive year of his career with stable earnings of more than $3.1 million, but that’s not to say all has gone perfectly. Early this month he lost one of his best-ever horses, Banned, to a breakdown that ultimately proved fatal, and it’s not like he wins with everything he runs: At the 17-day Keeneland meet that ends Saturday, Proctor had won with just 2 of his first 20 starters.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -  A sizable field of fillies is shaping up for the Grade 2, $150,000 Pocahontas, the co-feature of the Stars of Tomorrow card that opens the Churchill Downs meet Sunday. Believe You Can, winner of the Grade 3 Tempted last out for Larry Jones, is the likely favorite in a lineup also expected to include Georgie’s Angel, winner of the Schuylerville at Saratoga, and Flashy Lassie, winner of the Debutante at Churchill.

Stacelita, winner of the Beverly D. Stakes in August and Flower Bowl Invitational earlier this month, is the rightful favorite for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 4. She may not face the toughest field possible.

Three undefeated Grade 1 winners, including likely favorite My Miss Aurelia, are among 18 fillies pre-entered for one of the most formful Breeders’ Cup races of recent years.

The Juvenile Fillies has been won by the favorite eight of the last nine years, a role likely to be held in 2011 by My Miss Aurelia, facile winner of the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont Park. Steve Asmussen trains My Miss Aurelia, ridden last out by Corey Nakatani. The 3-for-3 filly will try to stretch her speed two turns against two top fillies proven at a route.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Trainer Bisnath Parboo and his extended family have spent the last 15 years watching American’s greatest horse race, the Kentucky Derby, from the infield at Churchill Downs. But when the entire clan return to Churchill for next week’s Breeders’ Cup, they will have some of the best and most expensive seats in the house.

Even though a number of leading candidates recently dropped out of consideration for the Grade 2, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, the race still ended up drawing 22 pre-entries Monday.

“They tend to come out of the woodwork for this race,” said Josh Christian, director of racing for Breeders’ Cup.