Fingers crossed for the weekend but we should be seeing more of Inspiral next year, win or lose

Whatever results you happen to be hoping for, there's every chance the Breeders' Cup will decline to deliver this weekend, so let's savour every bit of good news while we can. Inspiral is set to continue racing as a five-year-old next year, John Gosden said after she did a reasonably strong bit of exercise around Santa Anita's turf track on Wednesday morning.

"I believe at the moment she will stay in training," the trainer told reporters. "Mrs [Patricia, Cheveley Park Stud owner] Thompson has indicated that."

That, of course, assumes that all goes well in her final race of the year, the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Saturday, and also in the short pieces of exercise she will do the rest of this week. At times, the tracks here can get quite busy with high-octane racehorses and one of them crossed in front of Inspiral as she neared the end of her work in front of the grandstand.