23.30 BST: So there it is, the first Ladies' Day at the Breeders' Cup and some memorable performances scattered all the way through the card. Zenyatta, who started at 1-2 on the PMU, was inevitably the highlight, and there is no news as yet on her future, though with the Breeders' Cup returning to Santa Anita in 12 months' time, it is always possible that her connections will keep her in training with an eye to winning the Classic.
If nothing else, the first three Cup races on the synthetic track have been a slap in the face for the dirt-loving diehards who like to claim that racing on an artificial surface is boring. Surging moves through the field, such as those produced by the winner in all three races on the Pro-Ride, are probably the most exciting spectacle the sport has to offer.
The Europeans drew a blank, but Halfway To Heaven was the one serious hope. Tomorrow will bring the really serious business - nine Breeders' Cup races, and everything leading up to Curlin versus Duke Of Marmalade, Henrythenavigator, Raven's Pass and Casino Drive in the Classic. What a day in store.
This is Greg Wood signing off from Santa Anita.
23.24 BST: Zenyatta gets a standing ovation as she comes back past the stands. A shame that she'll never run up against Europe's best filly this season, Zarkava. It will now be up to the International Handicappers to determine which of these two outstanding animals is the best filly on the planet.
23.23 BST: The commentator acclaims "a living legend" as Zenyatta takes her career record to a perfect nine from nine. Last into the first turn as Bear Now set a steady pace, she was the third winner of the night to make a big move on the final turn. Mike Smith was forced to come five wide into the straight, but it made no difference as she closed down the leader and quickly went clear.
Result: 1. Zenyatta, 2. Cocoa Beach, 3. Music Note.
23.10 BST: Zenyatta is drifting a little, to 1-2. She looks pretty composed, though, and it looks as if things are just easing up a little in the market as the punters baulk at her short price.
23.03 BST: Zenyatta is hovering at around 1.53 – roughly 8-15 – on Betfair, which just goes to show the sort of value you can get when The Man isn't taking a big chunk out of the betting pool. Here in PMU Monopoly Land, it's still 1-5 Zenyatta, and 8-1 bar.
22.59 BST: One of the visiting British journalists is debating whether to put his wife on Ebay and then stick all the proceeds on Zenyatta in the hope of buying her back with something to spare when the "good thing" obliges. On balance, he decides to err on the side of caution. How romantic.
22.51 BST: Looking at the Filly & Mare Turf again, Halfway To Heaven stayed on up the straight, but just at the one pace. She has winning form over 10 furlongs in the Nassau Stakes, but that was a messy race on a sharp track. It looks like she just couldn't quite get home here.
22.47 BST: If you are chasing losses after the first four Breeders' Cup races, you will need to find a shock winner to stand any chance in the last. Zenyatta, reckoned a "lock" by the locals, is currently trading at 1-5 on the PMU.
22.39 BST: Result: 1. Forever Together, 2. Sealy Hill, 3. Wait A While, 4. Visit.
Frankie Dettori showed great skill to get to the front on Folk Opera from stall nine, and then slowed things down coming down the straight for the first time, with Halfway To Heaven just behind and Wait A While close up in third. Visit was settled in eighth by Ryan Moore, but then got a dream run up the rail turning for home and led going into the final furlong as both Folk Opera and Halfway To Heaven dropped away. He couldn't hang on, though, and was swamped 100 yards from the line as Forever Together charged home ahead of the outsider Sealy Hill.
22.27 BST: Having risked sunstroke and heat exhaustion with a mad dash to the paddock, I can report the following: pretty much every horse ever foaled will look good with 100 degrees of Californian sunshine bouncing off its coat. Halfway To Heaven's coat shows hints of turning, but overall she looks to be thriving in the climate. Visit's coat is also starting to go, but overall this is a very impressive-looking field. Eight minutes to post.
22.14 BST: Visit is the first British-trained runner on the card, representing Sir Michael Stoute and Ryan Moore. Stoute's name does not seem to resonate quite like O'Brien's though, and she is showing at 16-1.
Halfway To Heaven is still rock-solid at 2-1. The crowd must have heard his comments after Heart Shaped's race earlier on.
22.09 BST: The days when European horses were always longer on the local PMU than back at home seem to be over. Halfway To Heaven is currently trading at 7-2 on Betfair for the next race, the Filly & Mare Turf, but is a 2-1 chance here in the States. Wait A While is 4-1 along with Vacare, while Godolphin's Folk Opera, who took the EP Taylor at Woodbine last time out, is 10-1.
Stardom Bound paid $5.20 for a $2 stake, by the way.
22.00 BST: Just like Ventura in the first, Stardom Bound made a huge move from well off the pace, charged past the field turning in and had the race put to bed a long way from home. Star Diva was third in the photo, just edging out Dave's Revenge. Pursuit Of Glory was never in the hunt, starting slowly and then being buried in the pack by Johnny Murtagh before dropping away in the stretch.
21.53 BST: Pursuit Of Glory is into 9-1 from 14-1 - her Newmarket form in the Cheveley Park looks a lot better after Heart Shaped's run in the last.
1. Stardom Bound, 2. Dream Empress, 3. photo.
21.44 BST: Apologies for the time-lag on posts so far. Guardian technology seems to have taken a (temporary) backward step since last year when I was able to file and store entries myself. This year they are going via head office on email, and the good people on the desk are snowed under as it is.
Worth noting here that the field for the Juvenile Fillies includes Doremifasollatido. If you haven't heard any of Tom Durkin's commentaries on this horse's victories, do yourself a favour and look one up on YouTube. The man's a genius.
Sky Diva has broken the parade here and is getting a little worked up.
21.32 BST: Next up is the Juvenile Fillies' on the Pro-Ride, and the first chance for a European on the new synthetic track. Pursuit Of Glory, trained by David Wachman, will carry the same orange and blue silks that went so close on Heart Shaped.
Stardom Bound, with Mike Smith in the saddle, is the 6-5 favourite at the track, with CS Silk (Robby Alborado), a 15-1 chance on the morning line, next in at 5-1 along with Sky Diva (Ramon Dominguez).
21.26 BST: The photo-finish print has just gone up on the CCTV. It was even closer than it looked.
Beyond Our Reach and Frankie Dettori were last going into the Clubhouse turn and never threatened to get involved. Murtagh was also a long way back early, but is taking a positive view. The track TV has quoted him as saying that the way the course is riding will be perfect for Halfway To Heaven in the Filly & Mare Turf.
21.22 BST: So close for O'Brien and Johny Murtagh as Heart Shaped finishes best of all but can't quite get to Maram. One more stride would have done it. Laragh had led from the start until well down the stretch, but started to wander a furlong out and faded into third.
Frustrating for Ballydoyle, but at least it shows that their string is in form - indeed, when O'Brien discussed his team here on Thursday, Heart Shaped was perhaps the one about which he enthused the least. And it is not a Grade One event yet, so would not have counted towards their assault on Bobby Frankel's record of 25 in a season.
Result:
1. Maram (ridden Jose Lezcano) 11-1, 2. Heart Shaped 10-1, 3. Laragh 5-2.
21.05 BST: Ten minutes to post for the Juvenile Fillies' Turf. Consequence, the mount of John Velasquez, was 8-1 on the morning line, but is popular with the early punters and is a 5-2 chance now, just ahead of Laragh (Edgar Prado) on 3-1. There is European interest here, with Beyond Our Reach representing Tommy Stack and Heart Shaped running for Aidan O'Brien.
20.51 BST: Ventura's performance just gets more extraordinary the more you look at it. On dirt, it is held to be suicide to make a move like that on the turn, but on Pro-Ride it seems to be possible. Her time was just 1/100th of a second outside Indian Blessing's track record, and Gomez had the race won a furlong out. And all this from a filly who was running around Newbury in soft-ground handicaps for Amanda Perrett this time last year.
20.45 BST: What a performance to start the meeting. Ventura was a little awkward getting away from the stalls and settled well off the pace by Garrett Gomez, but three furlongs from home she tore through the field and then swept past Indian Blessing at the top of the straight. Bobby Frankel seemed very confident about her chance earlier in the week, and she has justified every ounce of it.
Result: 1. Ventura $7.60 (for a $2 stake), 2. Indian Blessing 9-5, 3. Zaftig.
20.29 BST: Here come the runners. Indian Blessing's silks have the words "NO BULL" on the back in very large letters – it's the slogan of Hal Earnhardt, the car dealer who owns her. Lady Sprinter is on her toes and looks ready to explode, which is a worry over today's seven-furlong trip as her best form is at shorter.
20.19 BST: Arnold Schwarzenegger has just been on the closed-circuit TV, welcoming everyone to California and pointing out, somewhat bizarrely, that the $25m available in prize money over the next two days is "even more than the budget for Hercules in New York" – which was his first film. Thanks, Wikipedia.
He also wants everyone to "stay as long as you can, because we need your cash, if you know what I mean." If only British politicians could be so direct.
Anyway, back to business. Fifteen minutes to post for the Filly & Mare Sprint, and Indian Blessing (2-1) is just holding onto favouritism from Ventura (5-2), with Zaftig third in on 9-2.
18.43 BST: Good morning from Santa Anita racecourse in California, where the temperature is heading for 100 degrees, the horses are fit and ready, and the shutters are going up on the betting windows ahead of Breeders' Cup XXV. It is, according to your point of view, racing's Superbowl, its Ryder Cup or — bearing in mind its "medication" issues — its Olympics. And there are still some diehards in Britain and Ireland who would rather be getting rain-lashed at Cartmel.
But this is as close to a global championship meeting as Flat racing ever gets, and the overseas representation in the 14 races over the next two days is larger than ever. How many will return victorious? And will the new Pro-Ride surface, replacing the traditional dirt for the first time at a Breeders' Cup, really level the playing field?
From my seat about five yards from the track, I can report that the San Gabriel mountains look magnificent, the turf course looks a little greener than it did earlier in the week but will still be lightning fast, and the Pro-Ride looks … well … brown. It's an interesting substance, soft and spongey and noticeably different to the Polytrack that is now familiar to British punters, but similar in practice in that there is no kickback and it is much kinder to the horses. An entire field can gallop past at full speed and you will barely hear a sound.
Today's card is restricted to fillies, which is, according to the organisers, a bold move to create a Ladies' Day at the meeting. Many stateside fans, though, seem to see it as an unnecessary attempt to sideline 50% of the equine species on to a day when many fans are at work an unable to watch.
The decision to rename the Distaff as the Ladies' Classic has attracted much derision, and Zenyatta, sure to start favourite for the race, comes close to Curlin in terms of the glamour-factor over here and would surely deserve a place on Saturday's "main" card.
None the less, the "handicappers" are starting to fill the huge main stand here, and the action will begin with the Filly & Mare Sprint at 8.35pm BST. Indian Blessing, who holds the track record for seven furlongs, is an uneasy favourite for this race this morning, as money comes for Bobby Frankel's Ventura, who has been a springer in the market all week.
The main European challenger later is Aidan O'Brien's Halfway To Heaven in the Filly & Mare Turf, though the reason why Johnny Murtagh has been jogging around the Pro-Ride in a sweatsuit every morning has recently become apparent with the announcement that he will put up 2lb overweight on the triple Group One winner. In a tight race, that could prove very significant.
