LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Happy Breeders' Cup draw day! Before the draw, everyone is waiting to figure out how things will work out -- who's going to be where, how the races are going to shape up in terms of which horses will have to send and which horses will get to rate. Once it's over, of course, you have a clearer picture, both tactically and odds-wise, of where each runner fits.

I wrote about Blame in my last entry, so you can get all my thoughts there. We drew post five and that's a fine spot, and I'll try to get some final thoughts about taking on Zenyatta in the Classic to you before Saturday. For now, here are some thoughts on my other Breeders' Cup starters, in order of start on both days.

Friday — Marathon: Giant Oak
This horse has been on the map for a long time. He was one of the top 3-year-olds and recently ran second in the Hawthorne Derby. If you look at his past performances, he's always been in contention. The only race in which he was beaten by much was the 2009 Louisiana Derby, in which he was beat nine-and-a-quarter.

We don't run a lot of races in North America that are a mile and a half. If I were Bob Baffert and you asked me to tell you the difference between running a horse in a dirt race that's a mile and a half and a mile and a quarter, I'd say, "The difference is a quarter of a mile; didn't anyone ever tell you?" But it's my job to explain things on this blog, so I'll attempt to do so.

The Marathon is really a stayer's race; the horses start and settle, and then they just stay. You're not going to see horses make flashy moves, and they're not going to make up a lot of ground, unless for some reason they go wickedly fast. You want your horse to be forward because the problem is, when you're going in fractions of :25, :26 and :25, horses aren't going to come home in :24; they're going to start to tire and come home slower. So most horses are going to stay or steadily improve their position; they can be in front and walk on home. Once you go anywhere past a mile and a quarter, you're just not going to sprint for the wire.

Giant Oak has never run this far, so I'll talk to his connections and see what their thoughts are, what they think. He's the kind of horse that can be a grinder. We'll go from there.

Friday — Juvenile Fillies Turf: More Than Real
I rode this one for Chad Brown when she broke her maiden up at Saratoga this August, and then Bobby Flay bought her after the race. I kept the mount, and we went up to Woodbine in September to run in the Natalma Stakes, which is a Grade 3 turf event. She ran well there; the fillies ran faster than the colts ran in their stakes race on the same day. The winner of the Natalma, New Normal, won in 1:36.51. And Pluck, my Juvenile Turf contender, won the Summer Stakes in 1:37.70.

This one is a really light filly. She's not very big and she's pretty light-boned, but as you can see, she can run. A young horse on the turf -- I think it's better for the horse. There's not as much happening, so it can focus on the race more. A lot of times when you have young horses starting on the dirt the first couple of times, you'll have starters that are running all over the place because they're trying to get away from the kickback. Not only do you have your horse trying to figure out how to get through it, but you have other horses that are shying from it, causing havoc in front of you, so that gives your horse something else to look at. I think on the grass, it's something you're usually able to do a little more smoothly. Fractions are slower; things happen a little slower. The young horses are able to take it in just a little bit better, maybe learn a little more. This one has been coming along just fine.

Friday — Juvenile Fillies: Believe in A.P.
This one is just coming off her maiden win. It was at Philadelphia Park, but she won by 12. She ran in the P.G. Johnson on the grass at Saratoga, where she was fifth. That wasn't so good, but the race before that, she was beaten by only half a length. When you're riding a horse that has three or four starts under the girth, it's interesting because it still has the baby feel, but it is actually more at that high school level. These horses can be immature, but they're starting to figure it out. And once they win, a lot of times the lightbulb will go on. So maybe that latest score will wake her up and she'll take a trip to the winner's circle once again.

Friday — Ladies' Classic: Malibu Prayer
If you're handicapping the races, you'll notice that John Velazquez and I have been leapfrogging around on this filly, who is trained by Todd Pletcher. When I first made my move back to the East Coast, I came to fill Velazquez's shoes as Pletcher's first-call rider, because Velazquez had been injured in a racing accident. That was a few years ago, and now he's back and riding strong, but like I tell everybody, Pletcher has so many horses, Velazquez can't ride them all. Every now and then, I'll still catch one here or there.

I do what Pletcher needs me to do. Believe me, he's a great trainer you want to ride them all for, but everybody knows Velazquez is his No. 1 rider. For a while there, it was working for me where those horses I got my foot in the door on, I was able to keep. But recently, it's been like Pletcher has needed me and I can't get back on due to previous commitments so Velazquez has been able to get to those places and get on those horses.

So we've both ridden Malibu Prayer, just like we've both ridden Life At Ten. I broke Life At Ten's maiden, and Velazquez rode Malibu Prayer in her first two starts. Both of them are very good fillies, and I'm pleased to be on this one; I think she's got a heckuva chance.

Saturday — Turf Sprint: Due Date
Steve Margolis is a good trainer. I rode this horse for him a long time ago, in 2008. I almost didn't remember him, it was so long ago. I rode him only that one time, at Gulfstream on the dirt. I had to ship in to ride something else and ended up on him that day. Margolis is a really nice guy and usually ends up with quite a few nice little horses, so hopefully we can win a Breeders' Cup for him.

Saturday — Juvenile: Pluck
This horse ran really well for me up at Woodbine in the Summer Stakes. He traveled well; he did everything the right way. They told me to watch him in there because he tended to lug in and stuff like that, but he was like an old pro and just did things very nicely. I never hit him, either; I might have tapped him underhanded but I didn't have to overly squeeze him, and he was very honest about what he was giving me. The ground up there was very close that day to what we might have here at Churchill, so hopefully he'll perform just as well.

Saturday — Sprint: Supreme Summit
He ran a real good race in the Ancient Title at Hollywood last time out. He got beat by half a length; he was coming late. He ran that one after winning an allowance race at Del Mar in September. They both were nice efforts. In the allowance race, he ran really fast. Rafael Bejarano was on him then, because I was on the East Coast. I rode him three times back in 2009, but then I hadn't seen him for a while. I don't know how long Mike Puype has had him; when I rode him, Doug o' Neil had him. When that happens -- you ride a horse a couple of times and then you get back on it after a while -- the horse is going to change over time, just like we change over time. We all grow up, and that's what horses do. They learn how they want to be ridden; they learn what they want to do. But every now and then, you've got to change things up a bit. When I rode him, he was real close to the lead, but in the better races he's been a little farther back and coming with a little bit of a run. He's a nice little horse, and these owners, Joseph Lacombe and the guys in his stable, they're good people. Like always, we'll do our best to get this one home a winner.