Spielberg was considered for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Friday at Keeneland, but trainer Bob Baffert has selected a more modest goal for the promising colt.

Spielberg will start in a maiden special weight race at a mile at Del Mar in Sunday’s first race. Spielberg was third, beaten 5 1/2 lengths by Get Her Number, in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes as the 11-10 favorite on Sept. 26 at Santa Anita.

“We were thinking about the Breeders’ Cup,” Baffert said. “I’m trying to develop these young horses.

Del Mar has changed the position of furlong markers on the turf course and altered the run-up distances between the gate and the start of the timing mechanism after conducting a survey of the course after the summer meeting in early September.

In several instances, the run-up to the point when the race time will begin is longer than previous seasons, according to a statement released by the track Friday. The relocation of furlong markers on the course will result in more accurate fractional timing, officials said.

Mike Smith, the all-time winningest rider in Breeders’ Cup history, is skipping the event this year.

Smith, 55, said Thursday that the absence of several leading horses he rode earlier this year from the Breeders’ Cup was a major factor in his decision to not travel to Keeneland for next Friday and Saturday. Instead, Smith will ride at Del Mar.

Smith was the regular rider of the 3-year-old Honor A. P., 5-year-old mare Midnight Bisou, and the 5-year-old horse McKinzie, all major stakes winners who have been retired in recent months.

Owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong celebrated their second 2-year-old maiden winner of the Gulfstream Park West meet Thursday, and will go for a hat trick of sorts in Sunday’s eighth race with first-time starter Sassy Beast.

Big Thorn was a five-length maiden special weight winner Thursday, closing from 12 lengths back to defeat fellow Florida-breds for trainer David Fawkes and jockey Paco Lopez. He is a son of The Big Beast, a Grade 1-winning sprinter raced by the Lieblongs.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Aqueduct’s 18-day meet opens Friday and runs through Dec. 6. Following similar state-issued protocols that have been in place since racing resumed in June, fans will not be permitted ontrack.

There will be varying post times throughout the meet, depending on how many races are carded. With the Breeders’ Cup being run next Friday and Saturday at Keeneland, first post Friday at Aqueduct will be 11:15 a.m. and on Saturday it will be 10:30 a.m.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Julie Krone, who enjoyed much success on the New York Racing Association circuit in her Hall of Fame riding career, was on the Belmont backstretch Thursday morning in a new role. Krone is the agent for jockey Ferrin Peterson, who after a successful summer riding at Monmouth Park, will join the NYRA colony Friday when racing begins at Aqueduct.

ELMONT, N.Y. – After several delays over the last 11 months, the New York Gaming Commission is scheduled to hold hearings Tuesday and Wednesday to determine whether to take action against trainer Linda Rice for alleged improper acts over a four-year period.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Attachment Rate earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure in a 6 1/4-length victory as the 1-2 favorite in a first-level allowance Thursday over the Churchill slop.

After winning a Gulfstream Park maiden race in mid-February, Attachment Rate had fared respectably without winning in six straight stakes, getting his career-best Beyer (95) in a runner-up finish in the Aug. 9 Ellis Park Derby. He then was 14th of 15 in the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby prior to trying the allowance ranks for the first time Thursday.

Blame the enthusiasm of youth, but Aron Wellman hoped to conquer American racing when he launched Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners in 2011.

“Naively and ambitiously, we wanted to build the stable to have runners in every division of the Breeders’ Cup,” Wellman recalled with a laugh Thursday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Greg Foley and his clients of some 25 years have gone down this road once before – although it’s been a while.

Foley and the partners in the Wisconsin-based Lloyd Madison Farms were represented in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Lone Star Park when Champali finished seventh, beaten just 3 1/2 lengths.

“It was a fun time,” Foley recalled this week at his home track of Churchill Downs. “It was exciting, having all the owners there and all that.”