BREEDERS' CUP MEETING, CHURCHILL DOWNS
5 November, 2010-2330 GMT & 6 November, 1750-2245 GMT
Coverage: At the Races (TV), plus regular updates on BBC Radio 5 Live
 Workforce has already won two of the biggest races of the year |
Workforce has been pulled out of Saturday's Breeders' Cup Turf in Kentucky because trainer Sir Michael Stoute has concerns about the course. Stoute had been hoping the Derby and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner would land him a third successive triumph in the Turf, after two wins with Conduit. But after doubts that the surface was too firm, he had said he would hope for overnight rain before making a choice. In the absence of any rain, Stoute took the decision to withdraw his horse. French colt Behkabad was installed as the new favourite.  | 606: DEBATE |
Workforce's withdrawal left Henry Cecil's Midday to carry British hopes at the meeting in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Trainer Cecil is in red-hot form after enjoying a magnificent double last month when Twice Over became only the 11th horse to win successive Champion Stakes and Frankel stamped his mark as the best two-year-old in England by landing the Dewhurst Stakes. Midday won the Filly & Mare Turf when last year's Breeders' Cup was held at Santa Anita, and is back to defend her crown. The Breeders' Cup features 14 races in all - 10 Group One races, three Group Twos and one Group Three - and the star attraction in the Classic will be undefeated six-year-old mare Zenyatta. She will start from stall eight as she attempts to repeat her 2009 win in the $5m (£3.1m) race at Churchill Downs. Jockey Mike Smith, Zenyatta's partner on all but three of her 19 career starts, referred to the mare as "the best thing that could have happened to US racing" as she posed and threw out her off fore as if showing off to the audience who greeted her arrival at the course earlier in the week. "She's done so much for horse lovers all around the world and we get letters from six-year-olds and old timers. Her appeal is immense and it's just wild," he said. "I'd say I'd give up anything I've achieved in my career for her to win this one last race. I have a job to do on Saturday and the rest will come after. "As far as I'm concerned, with the way she performs on the track and poses and dances off it, she's become the ultimate entertainer and brought the spirit right back into the sport." Goldikova is also likely to receive plenty of attention in the Mile race. Sent over by French trainer Freddy Head, the five-year-old is seeking to become the first horse to win three times at the Breeders' Cup - no mean feat for a horse who failed to win in her first three races as a three-year-old.
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