Tom Law

Brian Lynch grabbed a stuffed hay net, slung it over his right shoulder and continued what’s been an ongoing process for horsemen stabled on the grounds at Keeneland Race Course leading up to this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

The gang’s all here, well, most of the gang anyway. Horse vans are rolling in and out of the stable area at Keeneland Race Course, particularly in the barns off Rice Road, as the countdown to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships continues.

Arnaud Delacour chatted with his owner on the phone Friday morning outside his barn at Keeneland Race Course and pretty much summed up the feelings of any competitor knocked out of competition due to circumstances a little beyond their control.

Jorge Navarro leaned against the white four-plank fence outside Barn 22 in the Keeneland stable area Thursday morning, watched his crew rinse and squeegee the last drops of water from Private Zone’s slick bay coat and likened Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint to a heavyweight prize fight.

Every big race, big event, big sale has them. The so-called wise-guy horses, the talking points, the media darlings.

It’s still too early to predict who will fit the first role for the 2015 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, especially since only about a quarter of the 200 pre-entered horses for the Oct. 30-31 event are on the grounds at Keeneland Race Course. The second role might already be determined, since the biggest question on people’s minds in and around Lexington is whether the city and racetrack can handle the Breeders’ Cup. The third role is pretty established already and it’s in the form of Maria Borell.

All was quiet, extremely quiet, at Keeneland’s nine-barn area just off Rice Road that will house the Breeders’ Cup horses, a little after 6:30 Tuesday morning.

It was pretty dark, too, and empty, as in barely any cars, people or horses, a stark contrast to what it’s usually like in the area that’s essentially a year-round base for many horsemen. The big event of the morning was supposed to be Beholder’s first bit of exercise on the Keeneland main track and folks on the frontside were patiently waiting for the champion mare as they split time between sipping coffee, shivering and making small talk.

It’s mid-morning of the day that falls smack in the middle of the six weeks between the Pennsylvania Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Frosted is getting anxious.

A holler or two can be heard from his stall on the backside of his barn on the Greentree Training Center grounds. As his stablemates cool out from their morning training, walking past his stall along the wide, long and tidy shedrow, Frosted makes sure they know he’s there. Bang, thud, clank. Flesh meets the steel of his stall screen and steel meets the wood of the stall’s frame.

What’s in a name? In the case of Bona Venture Stable’s Louisiana-bred filly by Exchange Rate named Play Unified, there’s plenty.

The final Grade 1 stakes of the Keeneland fall meet that doesn’t start with the words Breeders’ Cup will be run Saturday and a filly that figures to be the favorite comes into the race after going the wrong way for months.

Wow, what a weekend. Tickets were punched, spots locked up, itineraries solidified for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships later this month.