No Change is a talented and ultra-consistent son of Fiber Sonde who won the $75,000 Frank Gall in his most recent outing, and he is 7-5 on the morning line in the Onion Juice for older runners going seven furlongs. Direct the Cat, a precociously fast juvenile daughter of Redirect, is 3-5 in the Triple Crown Nutrition, for two-year-old fillies going 6 ½ furlongs. That makes her the shortest-priced favorite of the evening.

Silky Serena, however, winner of the inaugural $50,000 Blue & Gold Stakes last fall, has been retired and thus will not defend her title.

Direct the Cat won the 4 1/2-furlong Rachel’s Turn by nearly seven lengths in her most recent outing. Now comes the next test.

“Direct the Cat will have to try two turns for the first time [in the Triple Crown Nutritin BC], but she acts like she wants to go further,” McKee said. “She really looks like she’s reaching for more ground when she’s striding out. She’s got a lot of ability. She’s a half to Command the Cat [a son of Master Rick who has won 11 times and earned over $240,000] but she seems like she’s going to be even better than he was.”

Direct the Cat is by Redirect, who looms as the heir apparent to the McKees’ Fiber Sonde, one of the region’s, if not the nation’s, top low-cost sires. to the most productive stallion that now resides on the farm. Like Fiber Sonde, Redirect, a son of Speightstown out of a Seattle Slew mare, never raced.

While Direct the Cat will still have something to prove when she tries two turns and 6 1/2 furlongs for the first time this weekend, No Change arrives as a proven commodity for McKee. He is 7-5 on the morning line and will head into the $75,000 Onion Juice as the morning line favorite. The Fiber Sonde gelding owns a commendable 13-7-4 slate and over $400,000 banked from 32 career outings including a recent victory in the Frank Gall and a prior stakes score in the $75,000 Confucius Say 18 months ago.

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“He has a lot of talent, and he had to overcome some traffic in the Gall,” McKee said. “I thought he was boxed in and then I heard the announcer say ‘No Change has found room’ and then I knew he would be okay. He’s always been really consistent his whole career. He ran against Coastal Mission a couple of times, but I think [trainer Jeff Runco] will try the big one [Sam Huff West Virginia Breeders’ Classic] with him. At least I hope that he does.”

In fact, he will, and Coastal Mission is the 4-5 morning line choice to unseat two-time defending champ Muad’dib, also trained by Runco.

No Change and Direct the Cat also head into the WVBC card at opposing points in the careers of their respective sires, Fiber Sonde and Redirect. Fiber Sonde has been the dominant force among West Virginia sires for more than 10 years, boasting runners such as Late Night Pow Wow, Runnin’toluvya, and Muad’dib while standing at Beau Ridge for a flat fee of $1,000. But at 18, Fiber Sonde’s career is winding down, while Redirect appears to be McKee’s next significant stallion.

“I think God was leaning on John’s shoulder when he bought Fiber Sonde,” McKee said. “He was unraced and he had run through a fence when he was younger. Redirect also ran through a fence when he was young, but John really wanted him. He studied all the catalogues and decided he was the next stallion that he wanted on the farm. He covered 40 mares this year, so once he gets out there [as a stallion], I think he’ll get more mares. Fiber Sonde can’t cover as many mares as he once did, but he’s always going to have a home here at Beau Ridge.”

It will be an emotional evening for McKee, who had been married to the longtime former trainer for nearly six years; their relationship began 40 years earlier. Breeders’ Classics is a night to which local horsemen and women point, and one on which John McKee thrived.

John McKee saddled 1,328 winners who earned over $17.7 million in his career. Among those were 17 Breeders’ Classic winners as a trainer, and many more as breeder and via his stallion Fiber Sonde.

Cynthia McKee owns 21 wins from 106 starters this year and 305 winners in her career and nearly $5 million earned from 3,421 starters.

She’s kept busy in the months since John McKee’s passing, and will do so again Saturday.

“I know it’s going to be tough,” McKee said. “When Direct the Cat won the Rachel’s Turn, I almost lost it in the winner’s circle because the race was named for one of his best mares ever. When No Change won the Gall, it was also really tough for me that night. I’m planning to stay busy on Saturday night, and hopefully that will help me keep my mind on things. I thought about only running one or two, but I know John would want me to run a few more and keep busy.”