ARCADIA, Calif. – The Breeders’ Cup has altered the way in which horses not nominated as foals to the event can be permitted to participate. A payment that represents a percentage of the purse of the race to which a horse was being supplemented has been changed to a flat $100,000 fee (or $200,000 if the horse’s sire was not BC-nominated at the time of conception) that makes a horse eligible for any Breeders’ Cup race for the rest of his career.

ARCADIA, Calif. – There were simple reasons why Old Time Hockey was pre-entered for Friday’s $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon over 1 3/4 miles on dirt at Santa Anita.

“He wants to run all day, and it is for $500,000,” trainer Tom Proctor said.

There was a practical reason, too.

“He’s a notch below the best marathon turf horses,” Proctor said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Teaks North was claimed for $100,000 when he finished sixth in a turf race at Saratoga on Aug. 15. Just 11 weeks later, he will be a longshot in Saturday’s $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf.

It is worth a gamble, according to trainer Eric Guillot.

“If I run third, I’d be clear for the year,” Guillot said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert used equipment known as “rings” on Tap It Rich for his final workout Monday before Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Tap It Rich, under jockey Rafael Bejarano, worked five furlongs in 1:00.57 over Santa Anita’s main track, and it was evident that the horse wanted to do more. Tap It Rich had his head cocked to the left around the far turn during the work but kept it straight down the lane. The rings, through which the reins are slid, are designed to keep a horse from getting his head up high.

ARCADIA, Calif. – In the week leading up to a big event such as the Breeders’ Cup, a lot of emphasis is put on morning workouts. Trainer Mark Casse, however, believes workouts can be overrated. In the cases of the 2-year-olds My Conquestadory (Juvenile Fillies Turf) and Conquest Titan (Juvenile), neither will have an official work the week before their Breeders’ Cup engagements.

“Most of the time, breezing, I think it’s overrated, for one thing,” Casse said Monday from Florida. “As long as they’re happy and healthy and training good.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Joshua Tree appears to be right at home at Woodbine.

That lesson was hammered home again here Sunday, when the 6-year-old horse, racing in the $1 million Canadian International for the fourth consecutive year, won the Grade 1 event for the third time. His only loss in the Canadian International came in 2011, when he finished second.

Joshua Tree’s winning payoffs in the Canadian International were $15.30 on Sunday, $10.70 last year, and $11.20 in 2010, and he was 11-1 when he was the runner-up.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Tannery, who won the $500,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday, could swing back in Aqueduct’s Nov. 9 Long Island, a 1 1/2-mile turf race for fillies and mares that offers Grade 3 status and a purse of $150,000.

“We might squeeze the lemon a little bit, then put her away for the season,” said trainer Alan Goldberg, speaking from his Colts Neck Farm headquarters in New Jersey.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The California-based runners for Saturday’s $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita are likely to be overshadowed by shippers from New York and Europe. Indy Point, the winner of the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship here Sept. 29, could keep the prize on the West Coast.

On Sunday, Indy Point worked a half-mile on turf in 48.20 seconds, an effort that trainer Richard Mandella described as “easy.” Exercise rider David Neusch did not urge Indy Point through the stretch.

ARCADIA, Calif. – For a Breeders’ Cup runner, Blueskiesnrainbows has had an unconventional schedule in advance of the $500,000 BC Marathon at Santa Anita on Friday.

Not many Breeders’ Cup horses have their final two prep races at the Los Angeles County Fair and the Big Fresno Fair in California.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Breeders’ Cup picture is starting to come into sharper focus after a couple of weekends of watching workouts on both coasts. Things might be even clearer were it not for the fog that rolled in at Santa Anita on Saturday and again Sunday morning, obscuring the view of many works from high atop the grandstand.