As the connections for Breeders' Cup hopefuls begin to make final preparations for this year's event at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5-6, it's all systems go for a pair of horses that figure to attract plenty of attention in the days leading up to the races.

Goldikova, who might be the main star of this year's Breeders' Cup if not for the presence of Zenyatta, is scheduled to arrive at Churchill Downs from Europe on Oct. 30, and will attempt to become the first horse to win three Breeders' Cup races when she runs in the Mile on Nov. 6 - a race she's won the past two years at Santa Anita in thrilling fashion.

In 2008, the 5-year-old mare lacked racing room until midway through the stretch, when she burst through horses with incredible acceleration and got up to win by 1<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>4 lengths over Kip Deville, running the turf race in 1:33.40.

Last year, she ran a race similar to Zenyatta's thrilling score in the Classic, sitting next to last in the 11-horse field after breaking from the outside post, picking off horses around the turn and then closing like a locomotive to get up and win by a half-length over Courageous Cat in 1:32.26.

She comes into this year's race after beating a field of 16 males in the Prix de la Foret at Longchamp, the seventh time she's beaten the boys in a career that shows 14 victories, three seconds and two thirds in 20 starts.

The only time she finished off the board was a

seventh-place showing over a soft turf course in her first start of 2009.

She broke the record held by two-time Breeders' Cup Mile winner Miesque (1987-88) for most Grade I victories (11) by a European horse with her last victory.

This year, she could potentially line up against the double Eclipse Award-winning Gio Ponti and Sidney's Candy, the talented son of Candy Ride who's trained by John Sadler and has shown a fondness for the grass.

If you listen to Alan Shuback, foreign correspondent for the Daily Racing Form, Goldikova will be the star at this year's Breeders' Cup, and not Zenyatta.

"Naysayers will point out Zenyatta's perfect 19-for-19 record, but without disparaging what she has accomplished, it must be pointed out that Zenyatta has been dodging top-quality competition for most of her career," Shuback wrote in a story published last week. "Had she been challenging and beating the best of the breed the way Goldikova has done since the middle of her 3-year-old campaign, Zenyatta backers might have an argument. But her stay-at-home Southern California campaigns at the ages of 4, 5, and 6 against a modest bunch of fillies and mares paints her as a provincial champion with only a single world-class performance to her credit, that when beating one of the weaker Breeders' Cup Classic fields last year in her backyard at Santa Anita.

"Goldikova, on the other hand, has never dodged the best of her own generation, the best of the previous generation, or the best of the next generation. Nor has she evaded males of any age. Nor has she stayed home in the Paris region and waited for horses to come to her."

Then there's Uncle Mo, a lightly raced 2-year-old son of Indian Charlie who figures to be a heavy favorite in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Nov. 6 after winning the first two races of his career by a combined 18<MD+,%30,%55,%70>3/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>4 lengths.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Uncle Mo won his maiden debut at Saratoga on Aug. 28 by 14 lengths while earning a start in the Grade I Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 9, a race he won by 4<MD+,%30,%55,%70>3/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>4 lengths after being pressed on the lead by long shot I'm Steppin' It Up through swift early fractions of 22.41, 45.92 and 1:10.47.

Uncle Mo's final time of 1:34.51 for the one mile on a fast track tied Seattle Slew for the second-fastest Champagne at the distance, just a fifth of a second slower than Devil's Bag in 1983.

"He's just such a talented horse, he's able to do things other horses can't do," Pletcher said. "The sky's the limit. I don't see how a horse could start a career more impressively than he has.

"His maiden was as good as I've seen, and then to come back and run 1:34<MD+,%30,%55,%70>2/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>5 in the Champagne is unbelievable. His times have been exceptionally fast. He gets stronger as he goes along."

Perhaps the two best 2-year-old colts in the West, Jaycito and J P's Gusto, are scheduled to test Uncle Mo in the Juvenile.

In order to be eligible for the Breeders' Cup, horses must be pre-entered by noon Monday. The Breeders' Cup pre-entries will be announced Wednesday morning.