Delightful Kiss (Tr: Pete Anderson; ex. rider: Victor Ordonez) - Hobeau Farm's Delightful Kiss galloped at Santa Anita on Thursday morning under exercise rider Victor Ordonez.

"He went good and he open galloped the last portion, about five-eighths," said trainer Pete Anderson. "He's run good on these synthetic surfaces...I just hope he likes this one."

The Marathon marks Anderson's first Breeders' Cup race. Anderson, 76, is a former jockey who rode in and won many of the country's top races, including the 1958 Belmont Stakes aboard Cavan, denying Tim Tam that year's Triple Crown. He also rode the legendary Forego a number of times.

In the old days, Anderson ran with a pretty good crowd.

"I played golf with Jackie Gleason, Rocky Marciano and Whitey Ford. And I was a good friend with J. Edgar Hoover," he said.

Asked if he ever rode at Santa Anita, he replied, "I won the first race I rode in here. But this will be the first horse I've ever run here as a trainer. Maybe I can get lucky again."

Delightful Kiss is currently Anderson's only horse. "I'm a one horse stable," said Anderson. "I had a big stable last year - two."

Muhannak (Tr: Ralph Beckett) - The creation of the $500,000 Marathon, which will debut on Santa Anita's Pro-Ride track, couldn't have come at a better time for the 4yo gelding trained in England by Ralph Beckett. The stats show he loves synthetic surfaces.

"I think he's run seven times and he's won four times and he hasn't been out of the three (top spots)," Beckett said. "He's a specialist."

Beckett purchased the son of Chester House during the summer after he finished last of 12 in the Cadbury Cup, a handicap run over heavy ground at York on July 11. In the first start for his new connections, Muhannak won a handicap over the synthetic track at Kempton on Aug. 25. A month later, he won by a neck in a listed stakes over the synthetic surface at Dundalk in Ireland to earn himself a trip to the Breeders' Cup.

"He beat two decent, solid yardsticks, horses that had been running around Dundalk all summer and running well," Beckett said. "It then seemed the obvious thing to do was bring him here."

Beckett said Muhannak shipped well and has adjusted to the quarantine barn. Thursday morning he made his third visit to the Santa Anita main track for what Beckett described as jogging and hack cantering

"He's not going to do a whole lot. He's fit," Beckett said. "He's not a horse who appreciates galloping anyway."

Despite Muhannak's clear affinity for synthetic surfaces Beckett said he might have brought the horse here if the race was being run on dirt.

"Good question. Possibly," Beckett said. "A Chester House out of a Forzando mare, there is dirt all over on both sides. The only thing is that he's a holdup (off-the-pace) horse and that does not suit dirt, does it? So, possibly."

Sixties Icon (Tr: Jeremy Noseda) - After competing in many of Europe's highest-profile races, the 5yo Gallileo horse arrives at the Marathon with a three-race win streak in Group 3 races.

Trainer Jeremy Noseda thinks Mrs. Susan Roy's horse is well placed. Linesmaker Jeff Tufts agrees; he made Sixties Icon the 2-1 morning line favorite.

"If you look at the race on paper, it looks an ideal fit for the horse," Noseda said. "I'm happy with the surface that I've seen. It's very similar, I believe, to what we race on at Lingfield and Kempton at home. I've never had too much problem with turf horses going on to that surface at home.

"The majority of the training of his life has been on the Polytrack. I feel it's a similar surface, so he should be comfortable."

Zappa (Tr: John W. Sadler; ex. rider: Ricardo Peniche) - Gary and Cecil Barber's Zappa galloped 1 1/4m under exercise rider Ricardo Peniche on Thursday morning at Santa Anita for trainer John Sadler.

A winner of 12 races in 35 career starts, Zappa has the most victories of any entrant in the Marathon that drew a field of nine. Five of those victories have come under Sadler's care since he entered the barn in June 2007.

"He is really a neat horse," Sadler said of the 6yo son of Afternoon Deelites. "He is very low maintenance and he tries hard all the time. He's a pro."

Garrett Gomez will ride Zappa on Saturday and break from post position six.