With the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar coming into focus, Tom Pedulla offers takeaways from five major races this weekend that will help shape the stacked fields at the 14-race, $34-million event.

FITTING TRIUMPH: Will Walden will always be grateful to Frank Taylor of Taylor Made Farm and the Stable Recovery program that Taylor founded to help those with substance abuse issues. Walden owes his training career to Taylor and that program, so it was only fitting that his greatest success to date should come with a son of Not This Time, who stands at Taylor Made Farm. That would be Rhetorical, who presented Walden with his first Grade 1 triumph Saturday at Keeneland in the $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes, a qualifier for the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by PDJF. “I wouldn’t have been able to start training if it wasn’t for Frank Taylor,” said a grateful Walden. “I had burned so many bridges and ruined my reputation so bad that there wasn’t anybody that was going to give me a horse, and rightly so. But Frank saw something and decided to put up his own money and without those 10 horses we wouldn’t have gotten started.”

Gin Gin outlasted Nitrogen to win the Spinster Stakes. (Coady Media)

NO STOPPING HER: Calumet Farm homebred Gin Gin set fast fractions while pressured by reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna but still had something at the end to fend off Nitrogen by a head in the Grade 1, $650,000 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland. The 4-year-old Hightail filly zipped through a :23.74 opening quarter-mile, completed the first half-mile in :46.69, and remained in high gear through three-quarters of a mile in 1:10.40. She wound up completing the 1 1/8-mile contest in 1:49.77. “I just tried to keep her comfortable,” jockey Luis Saez said. “I knew we were rolling pretty fast and we had pressure the whole way. But this filly loves the pressure.” The Brendan Walsh trainee secured a fees-paid ticket to the $2 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

NOT HER DAY: Fans are not accustomed to seeing superstar Thorpedo Anna attending to a robust pace and then not only failing to blow past the leader but weakening to a well-beaten fourth. But that is exactly what happened with Flavien Prat subbing for injured regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr. There is no reason to believe Hernandez Jr. could have produced a better outcome. Trainer Ken McPeek could not even think about the Distaff after such a disappointing result. “It’s a humbling business,” he said. “They have good days about bad days. We are going to lose as gracefully as possible.” Thorpedo Anna, a seven-time Grade 1 winner, failed to crack the top three for only the second time in 16 career starts.

ACING HUGE TEST: Ted Noffey made a winning debut at 6 ½ furlongs before routing his competition by 8 ½ lengths in the seven-furlong Spendthrift Farm Hopeful Stakes, both at Saratoga Race Course. As impressive as those two starts were, the question remained concerning how the Into Mischief colt would respond when asked to navigate two turns. He provided an emphatic answer Saturday with a 2 ¾-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity for owner Spendthrift Farm, trainer Todd Pletcher, and jockey John Velazquez. No one was happier to see Ted Noffey answer the two-turn question in a Grade 1 race than Pletcher. “Everything in his training indicated to us that he wouldn’t have any issue,” the Hall of Fame trainer said. “It’s always great to see them actually do it. It worked out beautifully.” The $650,000 Futurity, part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, represented one of five victories from eight mounts on the card for Velazquez, 53.

Napoleon Solo wins the Champagne Stakes. (Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher)

TACTICAL CHANGE: Jockey Joel Rosario knew a few strides after Gold Square’s Napoleon Solo left the starting gate that he should re-think his strategy for the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct. The reward for that was a front-running victory in the one-turn mile worth a fees-paid trip to the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance on Oct. 31 at Del Mar. Rosario said of the adjustment, “I thought he would sit third or fourth. But he broke so well and I don’t try to take anything away because it was easy for him. I kind of went to another plan after that … I just rode him and hopefully no one was faster than him.” The Champagne highlighted a big afternoon for Rosario. He also took the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes aboard New York-bred Iron Orchard the race before that.