Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - Amid the hoopla this weekend surrounding the running of the 90th Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, featuring Curlin, trainer Bennie Stutts, Jr will be sending out his three-year-old Smooth Air in a stakes race at Calder.

Now this may not seem so unusual, but Smooth Air will be racing on the turf for the first time in preparation for the 1 1/4 mile Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita in four weeks. Stutts is using the turf event, $100,000 Needles Stakes, to get the Ohio Derby winner ready for the new synthetic racing surface at Santa Anita. The same way Big Brown raced on the turf at Monmouth Park earlier this month.

"The owner wants to go to the Breeders' Cup (Classic)," noted Stutts, "and I had a couple of races to consider for his start before that. The Super Derby was one, but that would have only given Smooth Air 19 days from his last race."

Smooth Air has only one bad performance in his career, 11th in the Kentucky Derby behind Big Brown. In the Florida Derby, Smooth Air was second, five- lengths behind Big Brown. Stutts' colt is coming off a third-place result in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby as the 4-1 favorite at Philadelphia Park.

The three-year-old, owned by Mount Joy Stables, won the Hutcheson Stakes in January and then was third at Tampa Bay Downs in the Sam F. Davis Stakes. This year in six starts he has two wins, a second and two third-place finishes for $605,700.

Another unusual move on the way to the Classic is the entry of Arlington Million champ Spirit One in Saturday's $500,000 Goodwood at Santa Anita. The four-year-old colt has never raced on anything but grass in his 18 race career.

"I think it will be easier for him on Santa Anita's Pro-Ride," said Francoise, wife of trainer Jean-Pierre Dupuis, "because it is a new synthetic. But, we'll know for sure after the race. The horse is not nominated for the Breeders' Cup yet, so he would be running for $400,000 in the Goodwood (excluding $100,000 from the Breeders Cup Fund). The owners haven't decided whether to pay the $150,000 (Breeders Cup supplemental fee) before the Goodwood or not."

The Goodwood is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" series, which puts the winner of the race into the Breeders' Cup Classic. The winning horse needs to be already nominated or pay the $150,000 Breeders' Cup supplemental fee.

Spanish-born jockey Ioritz Mendizabal will be aboard Spirit One as he was for the upset victory in the Arlington Million. The French-bred colt has career earnings of $1.1 million with five wins in 18 lifetime starts.