Mike Welsch

Saffie Joseph Jr., who upset the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with Soul of an Angel two years ago at Del Mar, will have two chances of repeating that accomplishment a week from Saturday at Keeneland after pre-entering Kerry’s Kiss and R Disaster for the race on Monday.

Anybody who decided to drop in on training hours between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Thursday at Keeneland certainly picked the right time to show up. It was a star-studded half-hour immediately after the first renovation break during which many of the marquee names of this year's Breeders' Cup card came out to train.

If the field for Saturday's $60,000 Mr. Jordan Handicap at Gulfstream Park looks a bit familiar, it should. The race brings back six of the nine starters from a similarly conditioned overnight handicap decided here four weeks earlier.

Although Golden Tempo and Napoleon Solo, who captured all three legs of this year's Triple Crown, turned in their final works for the 2026 Breeders' Cup Classic Friday at Keeneland, the number one star for the morning went to another immensely talented 3-year-old.

The weather may still be on the cool side but the action on the racetrack certainly heated up Saturday at Keeneland where more than two dozen potential Breeders’ Cup starters put in their final works for the main event next Saturday.

Saturday’s $200,000 Mohawk Stakes at Belmont Park looked wide open on paper. But it was a different story on the racetrack with Sounds Like a Plan turning the nine-furlong turf stakes into a one-sided affair after drawing off to an easy, 4 1/4-length victory over Chummers and four other overmatched, older New York-breds.

Perhaps trainers Bill Mott and Chad Summers were playing a little possum when sending out their respective runners, Knightsbridge and Napoleon Solo, to gallop in their Dirt Mile towels here Monday before announcing a couple of hours later that both would be entered in the Breeders’ Cup Classic instead. Be it as it may, what saddle cloths they wore did not take away from the fact that both made extremely favorable impressions during their training sessions, giving every indication both are coming up to the main event in good order on Saturday.

The gang’s all here, all 150 or so Breeders’ Cup entrants, the majority if not all of whom made it out to the main track to train sometime between 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. or the turf immediately thereafter. It was a group that, as always this time of year, features the first sighting of Aidan’s Army, trainer Aidan O’Brien’s Breeders’ Cup contingent, which this time around numbers 11, plus one other who will compete on Saturday’s undercard.

All eyes were on Forever Young on Wednesday at Keeneland, and the defending Breeders’ Cup Classic winner did not disappoint when turning in his final major prep for this year’s main event over a freshly harrowed track shortly after the renovation break at 8 a.m. The work was as visually impressive as one will see in a 50.87-second half-mile clocking.

“I'd be hard pressed to say I'll ever have a horse like him again.” That's what trainer Cherie DeVaux said about a certain 3-year-old in her barn, except she wasn't referring to Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Golden Tempo. She was talking about Englishman, who will be heavily favored to add Saturday's $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint to an already impressive résumé.