Being fresher on firmer ground might be just what Love needs to produce a career-defining score. She looked like her old self against fillies and mares last time out in a close Group 2 loss in Ireland. After a 10-month break, she faced males three times, winning the Prince of Wales at Royal Ascot before looking rank in two summertime starts. Love was a champion in her division last year. More importantly, he has won the BreedersвЂ™ Cup Turf a record six times with four seconds and five thirds in 27 tries. That is just as well, since trainer Aidan OвЂ™Brien is 1-for-32 at ParisLongchamp with non-rabbits in the Arc.

Fitness issues, we were told, kept her out of the last two runnings of the Prix de lвЂ™Arc de Triomphe. This Coolmore filly is like the Jimmy Garoppolo of European racing. Since Art CollectorвЂ™s regular jockey, Luis Saez, will be on Essential Quality, his Hall of Fame replacement Mike Smith may hold the key to some true value in the Classic.

If he is not sucked into an early speed duel with Knicks Go and Hot Rod Charlie, he and Essential Quality could be left to pick up the pieces. His Woodward victory early this month produced a career-high 107 Beyer Speed Figure. While those two stablemates from Brad CoxвЂ™s barn have absorbed so much of the spotlight, Art Collector has quietly gone 3-for-3 since he was transferred from Tommy Drury to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Knicks Go tries to go where he has never gone, namely a 10th furlong, and Essential Quality has Belmont and Travers trophies in his saddle bags. Here are 14 horses, one in each division, who might be worth playing now - or remembering late next week at Del Mar.ДЄrt Collector - Classic (8-1). Some value exists already for those who are brave enough to jump in on futures that can be profitable on their own or even used as hedges against plays closer to post time. While the early numbers are too often skewed by offshore misinformation or peppered with outdated gossip, by and large they are a useful window into potential overlays. That means the futures market provides some real context for bettors who might wait until race day to pull the trigger on their wagers. The pre-entries are the framework for the 14 races, eliminating horses that might have been on the fence for their connections and serving as distractions in ante-post wagering. If there are 1ВЅ weeks until the BreedersвЂ™ Cup, then it must be time for the pre-entries, the signal for horseplayers to pre-handicap the pre-fields for pre-wagers.

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