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Happy New Year! Let’s start it off right with the first (of many) daily specials in 2022. The Saturday Special. Enjoy.

How could we resist a Saturday like this? With action from coast to coast, north to south, Grade 1s to starter “stakes” for the backbone of the industry, the first Saturday in December packs a punch.

It started in February, maybe even earlier knowing some horse people. Owners, trainers, jockeys – probably even horses – fretted about the next race meet on the 2021 National Steeplechase Association calendar. And now there is nothing to fret over. The season started in March with a single race on the Cheshire Point-to-Point card near Unionville, Pa., feeling half-normal and half-not considering the Covid-torpedoed 2020 version, and drew to a close Nov. 14 near Charleston, S.C.

The 38th Breeders’ Cup in the books, it’s time to start the final stretch before the holidays and turning the calendar over for another year.

One more stop on the steeplechase train. The 2021 National Steeplechase Association season ends Sunday with the Charleston Steeplechase just outside Charleston, S.C., and there are plenty of reasons to pay attention.

For starters, the races for champion trainer and jockey are jeans-just-out-of-the-dryer tight.

The races are complete and most of the competitors are back home, off to the breeding shed or the farm and looking to the future. Before we look ahead we’ll sneak a peek back at last weekend’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar.

Brad Cox made the short walk from the stable area toward some open space near the end of Del Mar’s clubhouse turn while Knicks Go warmed up in the chute before training late Wednesday morning.

We served up the picks for Championship Saturday and now we have the plays of the day with the return of the Breeders’ Cup Bankroll Challenge returns for the 2021 edition at Del Mar.

One stride, two strides, three strides. Game over.

The main event. With Future Stars Friday in the books it’s time to turn the attention to Championship Saturday as the 38th Breeders’ Cup rolls on at Del Mar.