If her debut was any indication, Justenufappeal has a good chance to live up to the expectations trainer Steve Specht had when he bought her for $150,000 at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale.

“She cost the most at a sale of any horse I ever had,” Specht said.

Justenufappeal won her debut here on Oct. 2, sitting off the pace and rallying four wide on the turn to win a 5 1/2-furlong Tapeta maiden race by a half-length. Specht is running her back Saturday in an ambitious spot – the $50,000 Golden Gate Debutante at Golden Gate Fields.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Hail, hail, the gang’s all here. The best mare, and most popular horse, in the country in Zenyatta. The top three older dirt horses: Blame, Haynesfield, and Quality Road. The best 3-year-old male, Lookin At Lucky. They are the leading candidates for 2010 Horse of the Year, and they will all meet for the first time in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The connections of Gio Ponti made the Breeders’ Cup Classic their first preference over the Breeders’ Cup Mile when pre-entries for the races were taken last week. Their decision to run in the Mile gives racing fans their first preference: Gio Ponti versus Goldikova.

Gio Ponti’s presence means that if Goldikova is to become the first three-time Breeders’ Cup winner, she must beat the best horse she has faced in the United States.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. − A year ago, Girolamo was ambitiously placed in the Breeders’ Cup Classic over a synthetic surface at Santa Anita that obviously was not to his liking. He finished 12th and last at 25-1 behind Zenyatta. On Saturday, Girolamo returns in the Breeders’ Cup, this time in a more suitable spot − over a conventional dirt course and as the 7-2 morning-line favorite in the $2 million Sprint.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If the horses running in Saturday’s Grade 2, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf were merely the ones who competed in the Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont last month, Kiaran McLaughlin, the trainer of Pilgrim runner-up Soldat, said he could feel good about his horse’s chances.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The racing pages are rife this week with a juicy fact that hits at the heart of the Breeders’ Cup Turf: All five winners of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe who raced in the BC Turf lost.

It appeared last Saturday that Sheldon Russell had escaped serious injury in a racing mishap at Laurel Park. Unfortunately, later that night it was determined that Russell had broken eight ribs and that three of them had punctured his lungs.

Russell, 23, had surgery late that night at the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in downtown Baltimore and is now home resting comfortably.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. − Approximately four hours before Zenyatta takes her final steps on a racetrack in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, the sport’s heir apparent star will most likely be crowned in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Each year, the Juvenile carries with it the sport’s future hopes, and the winner is often anointed the leading contender for next spring’s Kentucky Derby, which, like this year’s Juvenile, will be run at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Saturday marks the fourth running of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, but it’s actually the first one run at a mile on dirt. In 2007, it was run at a mile and 70 yards around two turns in the slop at Monmouth Park. The two subsequent years it was run over Santa Anita’s synthetic Pro-Ride surface.

This year’s $1 million Dirt Mile drew the best field it ever has with the 13 horses assembled making it one of the more contentious and compelling races on Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup program at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It might be argued that every inch, every maneuver, and every decision in any given race are critical to the outcome. But when it comes to a race like the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, the margins for error are so small that the winner not only will have to run his eyeballs out but also is likely to have been particularly fortunate in all those other respects.