LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brad Cox doesn’t plan on getting all emotional after what is likely to be the final start for Monomoy Girl. “At least I say I’m not going to,” Cox said with a laugh.

No one could blame Cox for being overwhelmed Saturday if Monomoy Girl becomes just the fourth horse to win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff for a second time. It has been 2 1/2 years since Monomoy Girl kick-started a remarkable span of success for her trainer, giving him a number of noteworthy victories in furthering his rise as one of the game’s young stars.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Earlier this week, 70 2-year-old horses were entered into the five Breeders’ Cup races restricted to juveniles.

According to their past performances, only five of them has ever received a raceday administration of Lasix, the diuretic used widely in North America to mitigate bleeding in the lungs. And not a single one will receive Lasix on the day the juvenile races will be held, Friday.

When it has come to the Breeders’ Cup, Luis Saez has been a non-factor. Not only is he winless with 22 career mounts – only four of whom have been under 10-1 odds – he has only ridden 10 horses combined in the event the last four years.

This year, Saez should very much be a factor in the Breeders’ Cup. Not only will he ride 13 of the 14 BC races Friday and Saturday at Keeneland, he will be aboard a number of top contenders, many of whom figure to be prominent early in their races.

The first Keeneland Breeders’ Cup, in 2015, was kind to European runners.

Overseas horses won two of the five turf races in which they started (no one ran in the Turf Sprint), Hit It a Bomb capturing the Juvenile Turf, Found the Turf. Success ran deeper than victory. Europeans took second and third in the Filly and Mare Turf, second and third in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, first and third in the Juvenile Turf, second in the Mile, and first and second in the Turf.

Trainer Bob Baffert’s three-headed monster for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday at Keeneland landed the three outside posts, while Tiz the Law, who has shown a preference for racing outside, wound up stuck in post 2 when a field of 10 had posts assigned at the draw Monday night.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With one notable exception, capacity fields were the rule when entries for the five races for 2-year-olds were drawn for the Breeders’ Cup Friday card at Keeneland. The $2 million Juvenile Fillies got just seven starters when entries were drawn here late Monday afternoon, but four of those enter undefeated in what figures to be a championship-defining race. Its colt-and-gelding counterpart, the $2 million Juvenile, drew a full gate of 14, led by the brilliant Jackie’s Warrior.

Average daily handle for the 27-day Belmont Park fall meet, which concluded Sunday, was $9,923,813, a 33.6 percent increase over last year’s daily average of $7,430,533, the New York Racing Association announced Monday.

Last year’s Belmont meet was scheduled for 38 days but one entire card was canceled and only one race was run on the closing-day program.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A $95,000 allowance that drew a handful of stakes winners, including a trio of 6-year-olds with impressive résumés, will anchor a 10-race Thursday card at Churchill in Louisville.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Unlucky with the coronavirus – but lucky with the weather.

All indications are that conditions will be ideal when Keeneland hosts the 37th Breeders’ Cup this weekend without spectators. Despite this being a time of year in Kentucky when rain and/or cold are not uncommon, the forecast throughout this week calls for no precipitation, with sunshine and high temperatures of 66 being predicted for Friday and 72 for Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – In the nearly seven years since he went out on his own with just a single horse, trainer Michael McCarthy has built up one of the strongest barns on the West Coast. And though he’s won plenty of significant races, including the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Pegasus World Cup with City of Light, his current group might be his deepest yet.