Breeders’ Cup Classic favorite Accelerate had his penultimate workout at Santa Anita Saturday for the $6 million race at Churchill Downs Nov. 3, going five furlongs under assistant trainer Juan Leyva in 59.80.

With just two weeks until the Breeders’ Cup World Championships returns to Churchill Downs for a record-equaling ninth nine, locally-based contenders Mind Your Biscuits, Seeking the Soul, Thunder Snow (IRE), Whitmore and Wonder Gadot logged their penultimate breezes for the Nov. 2-3 championship event on a chilly Friday morning beneath the historic Twin Spires.

In the build-up to Breeders’ Cup, looking at historical patterns can offer fresh perspective on the top contenders. If it’s not advisable to be doctrinaire about any tool, it’s still helpful to spot trends that cut against the favorite.

Knicks Go certainly provided the kind of spice that enlivens racing when he romped by 5 ½ lengths in the $500,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last Saturday, going gate to wire at mammoth 70-1 odds for a trainer and jockey who recorded their first Grade 1 win.

Courtesy of Tom Pedulla of America's Best Racing

Trained by Mark Casse, owned by Gary Barber, and bred by Flaxman Holdings, Will might be the most intriguing maiden to make the gate come November 2nd.