Of the 169 initial entries in 14 races worth a total of $28 million in purses, 59 ran at Saratoga, and 34 of them won at least once. On Saturday, their parallel courses will merge when they butt heads on the racetrack for the first time, at Del Mar in the biggest race of the biggest weekend on the Thoroughbred racing calendar, the $6 million BreedersвЂ™ Cup Classic.Д®ven beyond the intriguing Knicks Go-Essential Quality matchup, the wide-open Classic field overall represents a recurring theme: If youвЂ™re going to send a good North America-based horse to the BreedersвЂ™ Cup, chances are you will have gone through Saratoga to get there. 29, the 3-year-old Essential QualityвЂ™s red-and-white carnations were bright and fresh, from his Travers victory the day before, while his older stablemate Knicks GoвЂ™s flowers were brown and dried-out, having been hanging there since his Whitney victory three weeks earlier.

On Saturday, Del Mar will be Where The Gray Meets the Other Gray for the first time.ДЄctually, Knicks Go and Essential Quality areВ quite familiar with each other.В They were separated by about 20 feet at trainer Brad CoxвЂ™s barn at Saratoga Race Course this summer, each with a victory blanket of flowers hanging over the shedrow rail in front of their stalls.

вЂњWhere the Turf Meets the SurfвЂќ is a little ditty by Bing Crosby as an homage to his favorite racetrack, Del Mar, which he helped build in San Diego in 1936.

Race x half life