ARCADIA, CALIF -- Sometimes everything falls into place. You never know when it might happen, but when it does, you breathe a sigh of relief. That's the way it was this morning, first day of action for the Breeders' Cup notes team (that venerable assortment of grizzled reporters, savvy veterans, and me). Arriving at Santa Anita at 5:00 a.m. with the sun just beginning to pink at the horizon, I dropped my bag off at Clockers' Corner and set about reacquainting myself with the layout of the sprawling backside. Last year, attempting to locate a barn, I consulted Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. He pulled out a map. That's how confusing the setup at Santa Anita can be, but luckily this year I have it a little easier. Except for projects finished on my own time, I have only three assignments -- to cover the horses of Godolphin, Bob Baffert, and Tim Ice. Of course the latter is an easy one; Ice here with one entrant, Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird. I popped by the barn and checked in with groom Leon Hernandez. He was hosing down Summer Bird's shiny chestnut legs, getting ready to give him an ice bath before he headed to the track for a brisk jog. The curious colt pricked his ears when I arrived, no doubt looking for peppermints. Unfortunately, I had failed to bring any along. Won't make that mistake tomorrow morning. Next stop was Godolphin's Barn 48, where I found a handy dry erase board listing all of the horses that were walking and all of the horses that were galloping this morning. Thanks to its' prominent location next to the office, I was able to surreptitiously jot down the names, so I appeared super informed when I found Rick Mettee, assistant to trainer Saeed bin Suroor, out on the apron. Mettee, managing nine Breeders' Cup contenders for Godolphin, graciously spent about 30 minutes discussing them all -- from Ladies' Classic contenders Cocoa Beach and Music Note to Classic runners Regal Ransom and Girolamo. I appreciated his detailed and fastidious descriptions of each horse and walked away from that interview with a sense of satisfaction to find Baffert about to send Classic contender Richard's Kid through his paces. Baffert, of course, was humorous as always. "Ever since I got into the Hall of Fame, my horses have been doing great," he cracked. "I guess it gave me confidence." All of my assigned trainers, actually, have horses that seem to be peaking at just the right moment. Baffert's male runners, on the muscle and full of run, cruised through workouts in satisfying splendor (his Juvenile Fillies contender worked yesterday). As someone remarked about the Godolphin horses, "I've never seen so many runners get so good at one time." And, in Ice's words, Summer Bird has taken to Pro-Ride like a "duck takes to water." Tomorrow, we'll tackle the post position draw. Day one of notes team drill in the books. Sigh of relief. Now I'm off to figure out my features.