Off a gaining fifth in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and a first-place finish (he was subsequently disqualified from the purse money) in the Greenwood Cup two starts back, A. U. Miner figures to be the favorite over 12 other pre-entrants in the Grade 2, $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon going 1 3/4 miles, the first Breeders’ Cup race on the Saturday Breeders’ Cup card.

A. U. Miner was moved up to third in last year’s Marathon, which was won in a 10-1 upset by Eldaafer. Eldaafer is back to defend his title, but currently is not in as good a form as he was in this time last year.

Top Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien will be well represented in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, even though he didn’t enter Power, who captured a Win and You’re In race in Ireland. O’Brien pre-entered Daddy Long Legs, Wrote, and Learn in the Grade 1 race, but the first preference for Group 2 winner Daddy Long Legs is the Grade 1 Juvenile on the dirt.

Although 15 horses were pre-entered on Wednesday in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, the final field drawn Monday for the Nov. 4 race at Churchill Downs figures to be considerably smaller, since several runners are likely to go in other races.

Of the 15 horses, six were also pre-entered in other races, including Havre de Grace, who is expected to face males in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 5. Havre de Grace, though, will be allowed to enter both races, since they are run on different days.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — A competitive field of nine 2-year-old fillies will line up in Friday’s second race at Woodbine, and Vibrant Worship is a candidate to handle the move to a mile and 70 yards in the first-level allowance.

Vibrant Worship, trained by Malcolm Pierce for Live Oak Plantation, went off at 20-1 in her debut Sept. 4. After trailing on the backstretch, she came charging down the center of the track to win the five-furlong maiden special by daylight.

When the six-furlong Juvenile Sprint was added to the Breeders’ Cup schedule this year – swelling the number of races to 15 – it was expected to serve as an alternative race to its other 2-year-old races, all of which are contested around two turns.

Lightly raced and speed-oriented juveniles were essentially the target market, and when pre-entries were announced Wednesday for the $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint, that was just what the race attracted.

Mountaineer Racetrack’s 2012 live racing schedule will closely resemble its 2011 timetable, with a 210-day meet running from March 2 to Dec. 21.

In a release Wednesday, the West Virginia track announced it will race Fridays through Tuesdays, with 10-race cards from opening day through August, followed by nine-race programs September through December for a total of 2,019 races.

First post time will remain at 7 p.m. Eastern, with the exception of a 2 p.m. start for the West Virginia Derby program on Aug. 4.

Wednesday’s 16 pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile drew few surprises, save one: Dullahan, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity winner who was pre-entered in both the Juvenile and Juvenile Turf, had his first preference announced as the Juvenile Turf.

Although his connections had stated he was under consideration for both races, Dale Romans, trainer of Dullahan, seemed to be favoring the Juvenile in comments made over past couple weeks.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - And then there were twelve.

There were only 11 names on the list when pre-entries for the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint were released late Wednesday morning, but that list grew to an even dozen less than two hours later after it was discovered that Trappe Shot’s name was omitted from the potential field due to a clerical error made by the Breeders’ Cup.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Miss Silver Brook makes her third start following a layoff in Friday’s second race at Santa Anita, and the conditions of the $51,000, second-level allowance race have trainer Mike Mitchell in a confident state of mind.

Miss Silver Brook has drawn the outside post in a field of five. The race is run over seven furlongs.

“I love the seven-eighths,” Mitchell said. “I love the company. The dirt races for that condition can be easier than the turf races.”

Switch was among the earlier arrivals at Churchill Downs, having shipped here shortly after running third as an odds-on favorite in the six-furlong Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes on Oct. 8 at Keeneland. Trainer John Sadler has been here to personally oversee the filly’s progress as she tries to improve on her runner-up finish in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.