All followers of the turf are familiar with the season-ending Breeders' Cup World Championships, held annually late in the fall at a racetrack in North America. The concept was the brainchild of leading thoroughbred owner and breeder John R. Gaines. From its inception in 1984 till 2006, all the championship events were contested on a single day, usually a Saturday. From 2007, the programme was extended to two days – a Friday card followed by the defining Saturday card.

The location where the 14 races are held varies each year, much like the Invitation Cup in India, but there is no set pattern. Except in 1996, when the meeting was held at suburban Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack in Canada, all the events have taken place in the USA. This year's renewal is slated for this weekend at Louisville's Churchill Downs in Kentucky. The Friday (November 5th) is "Ladies Day", with six Breeders Cup races of which only the Marathon is open to both sexes, while Saturday (November 6th) – which will see eight Breeders Cup events – concludes with the two most highly anticipated contests, the Breeders Cup Turf and the Breeders Cup Classic.

Friday has a card of 10 events and the first of the B.C. events is the Breeders Cup Marathon, which goes as the 5th race at 4:10 p.m. Eastern Time. Ten runners contest this 14 furlongs race, a $300,000 Grade 3 affair on dirt, which has an open aspect. The American-trained Awesome Gem (by Awesome Again), Giant Oak (by Giant's Causeway) and Prince Will I Am (by Victory Gallop) are lukewarm choices. The lone European is Aidan O'Brien's Bright Horizon (by Galileo), coming off a victory on soft turf in the Irish Cesarewitch over 3200 m. He may find the conditions somewhat alien.

Forty minutes later, the $1,000,000 Gr.2 Juvenile Fillies Turf, over 1 mile, has drawn 14 two-year-olds. The unbeaten (in 2 starts) grey daughter of El Prado, Winter Memories, looks to be the "real thing". Given that she is in the hands of the very experienced 70-year-old James Toner, who would not have campaigned her here unless he was convinced she could do the trick, she shapes as a likely winner over O'Brien's Together (by Galileo), who has had a busy season but is right there on form. "At Saratoga, we worked her on the grass, and the light bulb went on," Toner said. "She impressed us in a couple of workouts, so we were expecting a good effort first time out. When we got her onto the grass, she was in a different dimension."

Dirt runners next take the spotlight – fourteen of the speedier members of the distaff set vie for supremacy over the 7 furlongs of the $1,000,000 Gr.1 Sentient Jet Fillies & Mares Sprint. A number of well-known names, such as last year's winner Informed Decision (by Monarchos), Evening Jewel (by Northern Afleet) and Champagne d'Oro (by Medaglia d'Oro) square off here but they could all be trumped by New York-bred Rightly So (by Read The Footnotes), from Tony Dutrow's stable, who is coming off a win in the Gr.1 Ballerina Stakes. A lively outsider is My Jen (by Fusaichi Pegasus), to be ridden by Johnny Velasquez.

Probably a better class of two-year-old filly than in the turf equivalent is to be found in the 13-runner Gr.1 Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies over 1-1/16 miles, worth $2,000,000. Two daughters of the Darley stallion Bernardini (by A.P. Indy) have taken widely differing paths to this race: while American-owned but British-trained Theyskens Theory has come from across the Atlantic after having made 4 starts on turf, her paternal half-sister A Z Warrior hails from the Bob Baffert barn and has been plying her trade principally on the synthetic tracks of California. Winner of 5 dirt starts at Florida's Calder Racecourse, Awesome Feather (by Awesome Of Course) puts her unbeaten record on the line. Others with a chance include Tell A Kelly (by Tapit) and R Heat Lightning (by Trippi).

More turf action follows with the Gr.1 Emirates Airline Breeders´ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, also worth a total of $1,000,000. A trio of Europeans along with a lone Japanese contender tackle seven North American rivals in this 11 furlongs test on the grass. Defending champion Midday (by Oasis Dream), from Henry Cecil's yard, is a hot favourite to defend her title but will have to be at her best to defeat the challenges of Plumania (by Anabaa), Red Desire (by Manhattan Cafe) and the improving Harmonious (by Dynaformer). Should she bring her "A" game to the table, the 2008 heroine Forever Together (by Belong To Me) could also have a say in the finish – she was third last year, but seems to have lost a step this term.

The concluding event of the evening, which will be run under lights at 7:30 p.m., is the $2,000,000 Gr.1 Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic, over 9 furlongs. Likely champion three-year-old filly Blind Luck (by Pollard's Vision) is five for six this year outside her home base of California. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is bullish about the chances of the late-running chestnut: "We think we have one of the top fillies in the country," he said. "Obviously, we haven't won every race, but we've been right there in all of them. The timing of the races entered into the equation, but so did the importance of the races. We ran in a race like the Alabama because that's a very important race." From the power-packed Pletcher barn, the five-year-old Life At Ten (by Malibu Moon) is in rousing form and will prove a tenacious foe under Johnny Velasquez. Probably the best of the quartet representing the four-year-old generation in this field is the consistent Unrivaled Belle (by Unbridled Song), schooled by Bill Mott.