There would be a touch of irony if Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens's Breeders' Cup frustrations were ended Saturday by War Front, a horse who has been through a successful albeit frustrating year of his own.

Jerkens has yet to win a Breeders' Cup race in nine tries. He came closest last year when Society Selection finished second at Belmont Park in the Distaff. Jerkens has had nothing but bad luck when shipping out of town for the Breeders' Cup, having yet to hit the board in seven tries on the road.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Boboman finished third, then he finished third again. Jockey Alex Solis was not discouraged.

"We always thought he was a nice horse, but the races at Del Mar were too short," he said.

Besides, Boboman had been off 16 months. There was no rush for trainer Richard Mandella to crank him up, so Solis rode patiently in races where the speed stuck.

"They were going 21 and 44, and kept going," he said. "[Boboman] was always making up ground."

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Thursday is the calm before a storm of activity at Aqueduct, where 11 stakes will be run in the next three days. Last Sunday's Nashua and Tempted, a pair of Grade 3, $100,000 stakes at a mile for 2-year-olds, drew 11 combined entrants before being postponed by dangerous winds. They were rescheduled for Friday and re-opened to all original nominees, and may pick up additional starters.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When Jon Court rides at Churchill Downs on Saturday in the Breeders' Cup, it will mark a homecoming of sorts for the 45-year-old Southern California-based rider. Although originally from Florida, his base for many years was Kentucky, where he won multiple riding titles at Ellis Park, Kentucky Downs, and Turfway Park.

But in the months after winning the $2.33 million Japan Cup Dirt aboard Fleetstreet Dancer in November of 2003, he made the decision to shift his tack out West, leaving behind his roots in Louisville and in south Florida.

Keeneland Race Course has released the final figures for the 17-day fall meet that ended Saturday with new records in all-sources mutuel handle and ontrack attendance.

Gross all-sources handle was $140,408,982, easily surpassing the former record of $126 million set at the 2003 fall meet. The average daily handle of $8,259,352 was up 12 percent over what the track handled at its 2005 fall meet.

Attendance totaled 233,218, narrowly surpassing attendance recorded at 17-day fall meets in 2003 (232,499) and 2005 (232,429). The daily average was 13,718.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - There will be no more turf racing here at Woodbine this season.

Although the race office had hoped to offer one turf race each day this Thursday through Sunday before putting the course under wraps, that plan was scrapped because of heavy recent rainfall.

"It's not safe anymore," said Steve Lym, Woodbine's racing secretary.

Four stakes races were scheduled over the turf course here last weekend.

On Saturday, both the Chief Bearhart and the River Memories were run on the main track.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It has been a little more than a year since Wild Fit wowed Breeders' Cup fans by finishing second with a stirring late run in the Juvenile Fillies at Belmont Park. Few could have predicted that Wild Fit would go winless in five races thereafter, but with the Grade 2 Chilukki Stakes on tap Thursday at Churchill Downs, the filly is still struggling to find the winner's circle.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Entries have begun to pick up this week at Bay Meadows with horses returning from the Big Fresno Fair, the end of the normal three-week racing cycle for horses that ran late in the Golden Gate Fields meeting, and the use of the turf course for sprints.

Thursday, a five-furlong turf race drew 17 entrants and was split into two races of nine and eight runners competing for a $12,500 tag. They will be run as races 2 and 4.

Belmont Park

Cloudy, 50 degrees, track fast

Had he already arrived at Churchill Downs, all eyes certainly would have been on Bernardini when he turned in his final workout for the Breeders' Cup Classic on Tuesday morning. Instead, training in relative anonymity at Belmont Park, only a handful of media types and a few curious horsemen were on hand when the marquee name for this year's World Thoroughbred Championships completed preparations for the main event over a fast track shortly after the renovation break.

Classic

The 17-day fall meet at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., ended Saturday with preliminary figures showing all-time records being set for all-sources mutuel handle and ontrack attendance.

Keeneland estimated the gross all-sources handle at more than $140 million, which would easily exceed the former record of $126 million, set at the 2003 fall meet, also 17 days long. Attendance totaled 233,218, narrowly surpassing attendance recorded at fall meets in 2003 (232,499) and 2005 (232,429 for 17 days).