nov 3 - araafa ready to go

Ad Valorem/Aussie Rules: - Although jockey Jamie Spencer was at the Quarantine Barn Friday morning, he didn't partner Ad Valorem, his mount in the NetJets Mile on Saturday, for his exercise on the turf course at 8:15.

"This horse has plenty of pace-he won three six-furlong races as a two-year-old including the Group I Middle Park Stakes-so he can lay up with the pace," the rider said when asked about strategy for Saturday.

Trainer Aidan O'Brien noted his two milers, in company with Turf entrant Scorpion, "just cantered a mile to give them a look at the place."

Aussie Rules, who likes to wait on horses when he makes the lead, came late to win the Shadwell Turf Mile in early October under Garrett Gomez and will be partnered by him again on Saturday.

Araafa: - The 3yo Irish-bred colt galloped 1 ¼ m on the turf Friday morning, and trainer Jeremy Noseda said he was satisfied with the way his horse was coming into Saturday's race.

"He had his serious work in England before he left, so he's fit and ready right now," said the trainer, who won the 2004 Juvenile with Wilko at Lone Star Park.

"He worked seven furlongs at home on Sunday (Oct. 22), then five-and-a-half furlongs on the Friday (Oct. 27), and then shipped here on Sunday. He's been galloping all week here now.

"I'm very happy with the way he's coming into this race," Noseda said. "Everything is great right now."

Araafa, second to George Washington in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot last out, gets a new rider in American champion jockey John Velazquez on Saturday.

Aragorn: - The chestnut colt galloped 1 m Friday morning on the main track at Churchill Downs as he readied for his appearance Saturday in the Mile. The Giant's Causeway 4yo had exercise rider Deborah Biggs aboard and trainer Neil Drysdale nearby when he went through his exercise just prior to the track closing for training at 8 a.m.

The Hall of Fame conditioner will put regular rider Corey Nakatani up for the 1 m race and he was asked how he felt about things coming up to the championship day.

"The soft course could be a concern," Drysdale said.

Aragorn has been racing almost exclusively on firm turf courses in California for the past year.

Badge of Silver: - The comebacking 6yo went trackside early Friday morning under Jose Cuevas for a 1 3/8 m gallop on the main track. Hall of Fame trainer Robert Frankel looked on.

The Silver Deputy horse will be making his first start since Jan. 1 when he went wire to wire on the turf at Santa Anita to win the San Gabriel Handicap. That start was the Kentucky-bred's 14th, but his first on the lawn.

Why did it take so long for Badge of Silver to try grass racing?

"Mostly because he was doing so good on the dirt," Frankel said. "If they're doing good, you don't want to change it. But we tried him and he showed he could handle it."

Edgar Prado will ride Badge of Silver in the Mile.

Echo of Light/Librettist: - Another 1 ¼ m gallop on the main track Friday morning put the finishing touches on trainer Saeed bin Suroor's entrants in Saturday's Mile. They went to the track in company with Silca's Sister, who will run in Sunday's Cardinal Stakes.

Bin Suroor arrived in Louisville Thursday night and was at Barn 42 Friday morning.

"Librettist was lame after his last race," he said. "He's fine now and has been working good. He's won two Group Is while Echo of Light won a Group II last time and is improving. He keeps showing us more. He's much more relaxed now, as well.

"Echo of Light likes to be there, close to the pace. I talked to Frankie (jockey Dettori) last night and said, 'Just don't fight with him.' Librettist will be somewhere in behind in a nice position."

Some were surprised when Dettori chose to ride Echo of Light over Librettist, who appears to have the better form. Asked if he thought Dettori had chosen the right one, bin Suroor said: "He doesn't always."

Free Thinking: - The Kelso Breeders' Cup runner-up spent his final morning on a van traveling from his Turfway Park base to Churchill and arrived about 9 a.m.

"He had a good trip," said trainer Doug Danner. "I just finished walking him around for some photographers and he was really hamming it up. He was posing for them.

"It would great if we get some more pictures tomorrow. I know he's ready, that's for sure. It's in the jock's (Jose Santos) hands now. He's been on the main stage, so he knows what this is all about."

Gorella: - Gorella shipped Friday morning from Keeneland to Churchill Downs with her fellow Patrick Biancone trainees and Breeders' Cup starters Mauralakana, Asi Siempre and Her Majesty.

They checked into the stakes barn (17) at 7 a.m. and almost immediately followed a pony out to the track and on into the paddock. They schooled there about 10 minutes, then returned to the track to jog about 1 ¼ m.

Asked how he felt about Gorella's status as 4-1 favorite, he said, "Any race I run I love being the favorite because it means we have more of a chance. I don't care, I don't bet anyway."

Miesque's Approval: - Live Oak Plantation's Miesque's Approval galloped

1 3/8 m at Churchill Downs on Friday with exercise rider Jody Giorgio in the saddle. His trainer Marty Wolfson arrived Thursday from his Calder Race Course base in Miami and was present to see the move.

"I like the way he's acting," said Wolfson. "Getting out of the humidity of south Florida seems to be good for an old horse. He's acting like a 2-year-old.

"I really want him to have a race like his Sunshine Millions (Turf on Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park) and make one late run," Wolfson said. "He does like the outside (post 10). He needs to be in the clear, because he gets intimidated between horses."

At age seven, Miesque's Approval is the oldest horse in this year's Mile.

Rob Roy: - The Kentucky-bred son of Lear Fan had an easy morning Friday, just walking the shedrow in the quarantine barn.

"He had some work yesterday (a fast gallop on the grass)," trainer Michael Stoute said, "and we gave him a break today.

"I know I'm ready for Saturday's race. I hope he is, too."

Stoute, who saddled Kalanisi to win the Turf the last time the Breeders' Cup was run at Churchill Downs in 2000, has hired American jockey Ramon Dominguez for the Mile, on the recommendation of trainer Neil Drysdale, who will saddle Aragorn in the race. Dominguez rode Better Talk Now to victory in the 2004 Turf at Lone Star.

Rob Roy, who drew post nine for the Mile, will race on Lasix for the first time Saturday.

Silent Name: - Trainer Gary Mandella continued his plan of putting the son of Sunday Silence more on his toes than when he finished seventh in Keeneland's Shadwell Turf Mile by sending him out for a light 1m gallop at Churchill Downs.

The trainer thinks the tactic is working, saying his Japanese-bred 4yo is "acting pretty frisky" since arriving Tuesday.

"I'm hoping he's going to be much sharper than he was at Keeneland," said Mandella, son of Hall of Fame conditioner Richard Mandella. "We're going to try to use our post position (two) to our advantage and get him out of there so he can get a good position for himself early in the race."

Sleeping Indian: - Trainer John Gosden had Sleeping Indian on the Turf Course at 8 a.m. Friday for a last gallop before Saturday's Mile showdown. The trainer's only Breeders' Cup victory came in the inaugural Breeders' Cup Mile at Hollywood Park with Royal Heroine in 1984. Gosden was training in California at the time.

"He just had a nice gallop 'round,' " he said. "We showed Mr. Dettori (jockey Frankie on Ouija Board) the way around. I had told him it was a left-handed track and he just followed us!

"The turf is riding good and I think tomorrow it will be riding just on the fast side of good," he continued. "The ground condition should suit everybody. I know we have the long straight at Churchill Downs, but we also have the tight bends. You can't have it all.

"I haven't got a strategy in mind.I think in the Mile you just want to break well and hold your position and watch it develop."

Super Frolic: - The Millennium Farms' 5yo galloped an easy 1 m on Friday morning at Churchill and will just walk in the morning.

"He's doing good," said trainer Scott Blasi. "Having only had him two days, it would be unfair to evaluate him."