With less than three weeks remaining until the 42^nd running of the Breeders’ Cup, it was a relatively quiet week across North America in terms of high-prestige races, one exception being the $800,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes Presented by Dixiana for 3-year-old fillies Oct. 11 at Keeneland.

In the QE II, Lush Lips delivered a standout performance, winning by 1 ¼ lengths over previously undefeated Laurelin. The British-bred 3-year-old filly earned a 105 Equibase Speed Figure in her first start since a runner-up finish in the Del Mar Oaks Presented by Keeneland Sales in mid-August and notched her second stakes victory of the year following a decisive 3 ¾-length win in the Tepin Stakes at Churchill Downs in June. With $740,608 in earnings this year, Lush Lips surged up the leaderboard from outside the top 100 to 48^th overall and seventh among 3-year-old fillies.

The QE II victory also continued a stellar Keeneland Fall Meet for trainer Brendan Walsh, marking his seventh overall win and third graded stakes victory of the meet. Walsh currently leads all trainers at Keeneland by both wins and earnings, winning at an impressive 27% clip. In addition, he topped all trainers in North America last week with $637,230 in earnings and remains ninth overall on the 2025 standings with $12,312,185 in earnings.

Canadian and U.S. Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse had five wins last week highlighted by Time to Dazzle’s 3 ¼-length score in the Franklin Stakes Oct. 12 at Keeneland. After bankrolling $617,495 last week, Casse narrowly passed Chad Brown to move into third place among all trainers in North America with $19,536,779 in 2025 earnings, $133,322 ahead of Brown who is now in fourth.

Brad Cox continues to hold a commanding lead in the trainer standings, leading by nearly $4.5 million in earnings, but it was second-ranked Steve Asmussen who stole the spotlight this week. On Saturday night at Remington Park, Asmussen achieved a historic milestone by notching his 11,000^th career victory with Beau Soleil, ridden by his son Erik Asmussen. Asmussen is the first trainer in North American racing history to reach 11,000 victories, winning at an impressive 20% clip all-time.

Flavien Prat remains on top of the jockey standings for the 17^th consecutive week, surpassing $31 million in earnings, but Irad Ortiz Jr. is closing in fast, now just $661,235 behind Prat in second. Ortiz Jr. took eight trips to the winner’s circle last week good for $600,208 in earnings, including a three-win day at Keeneland on Saturday.

North American leaders lists for horses, jockeys, trainers and owners are available on equibase.com and you can filter the data to view by a wide variety of categories including age, sex, surface and race type.