LEXINGTON, Ky. – If not for running against the great Lady Eli in a $1 million race, Sentiero Italia would be undefeated since the spring. That terrific 4-for-5 streak should be enough to make the Godolphin homebred a solid favorite to knock out her first Grade 1 victory Saturday in the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.

Sentiero Italia enters the 32nd QE II off victories in the Lake Placid at Saratoga and the Sands Point at Belmont Park. Both are Grade 2 races in which the daughter of Medaglia d’Oro won in convincing fashion as the favorite.

The speedy Liam’s Map will be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Oct. 30 at Keeneland and bypass the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31, trainer Todd Pletcher said on Wednesday from Keeneland.

The decision has major implications for the $5 million Classic, as Liam’s Map would have added considerable pace to a race that now might find American Pharoah, the Triple Crown winner, as the controlling speed.

Imperative worked a half-mile in 47 seconds at Santa Anita on Wednesday and might start in the $200,000 Fayette Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on dirt at Keeneland on Oct. 30, the first day of the Breeders’ Cup races.

Trainer Richard Baltas said Imperative worked “very good” and that the 5-year-old gelding is likely to race without blinkers for his next start.

“I don’t think he needs them,” he said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013, will resume training at Golden Gate Fields in early November, moving closer to an expected comeback in early 2016.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Wednesday that Shared Belief is jogging two miles a day at the Pegasus Training Center in Washington state under the direction of trainer Mike Puhich. Shared Belief has not raced since being pulled up in the Charles Town Classic in West Virginia in April with a hip injury.

Trainer Dale Romans and the Albaugh Family Stable already have one of the favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in Brody’s Cause, who was a good-looking winner of last Saturday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.

But Romans and the Albaughs have another 2-year-old they like just as much, if not more, in Unbridled Outlaw, and are hopeful that he too can get into the Juvenile field.

An American-based winner of the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31 will produce a longshot payoff.

European-based runners are expected to dominate the betting in the richest turf race in the United States. As of Wednesday, Golden Horn, the winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris last Sunday, was the consensus 4-5 favorite in future-book betting with British bookmakers.

Flintshire, the runner-up in the Arc and second in the 2014 BC Turf at Santa Anita, was the clear second choice at 5-2.

After briefly toying with the notion of running Private Zone in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, his connections have now all but decided on running the four-time Grade 1 winner in the Sprint, in which he is expected to be favored over Rock Fall and Runhappy.

Rene Douglas, the racing manager for Private Zone, said Wednesday that the decision is a tough one because he believes his horse would be very formidable in both spots. But in the end, the larger purse for the Sprint and Private Zone’s history of success in one-turn races helped Douglas make the final decision.

The $100,000 Surfer Girl at Santa Anita on Saturday is the last major North American prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and should help identify at least one serious contender for the one-mile race at Keeneland on Oct. 30.

The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is being run over 5 1/2 furlongs for the first time, and few horses have accomplished more at the distance this year than Lady Shipman. She will be seeking her fifth consecutive stakes win at the trip Friday, when she starts in the $100,000 Franklin County at Keeneland. The race will be Lady Shipman’s final prep for the Grade 1, $1 million BC Turf Sprint over the same course Oct. 31.

Rachel’s Valentina is one of several top contenders for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland on Oct. 31, along with Songbird and Tap to It. But she’d be odds-on if the Juvenile Fillies went to the most popular, rather than the swiftest.

As the second foal out of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, Rachel’s Valentina had a legion of fans before she ever stepped onto a racetrack. That she’s talented is almost a bonus.