It's a good policy not to jump to conclusions about track bias based on limited evidence. It's also a good policy not to wait too long to adapt your thinking about races on a card when a bias appears to be emerging. So, here we are, two races into Breeders' Cup Friday, and we have to start thinking about a bias.

Now, victorious Highly Motivated in race 1, the Nyquist Stakes, won from off the pace, but he was not far behind at the three-furlong pole and raced along the inside much of this trip. Often, there is bias overlap on a speed-leaning card, with inside paths as important as being forwardly placed. We will see about that. Breaking slowly from post 1, Highly Motivated crept along the fence into position before swinging three or four paths wide at the top of the stretch, delivering a superior performance, winning in a romp while running 6 1/2 furlongs in a blistering 1:14.99.

Behind him at the finish, after battling through fractions of 21.73 and 44.65, were pace-setter Quick Tempo (aptly named) and Roderick, and despite that demanding pace, nothing moved from the back through the homestretch.

Race 2 had an even more pronounced front-end tilt. Four horses gunned for the early lead with Joy's Rocket on the inside making it over Farsighted in the no. 2 path. Fractions here were 21.93 and 44.97, another pace that should've sapped the energy of the leaders. Instead, Joy's Rocket put away Farsighted and won clear as Farsighted easily finished second. As in race 1, there was very little change of position from the furlong pole to the finish as this field of 3-year-old fillies came home spread out over some 20 lengths.

Race 3 is on turf, and I'm going into race 4 figuring that front-runners on dirt are going to have all the best of things until we see contradictory evidence.