LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Blame, among the favorites for the Classic, topped a group of four Breeder's Cup starters to work before the renovation break at a chilly Churchill Downs on Monday.
Blame, with jockey Garrett Gomez aboard, went an easy half mile in 49.72 seconds before galloping out five-eighths in 1:03.56. He was followed, in order, by Thiskyhasnolimit (Dirt Mile), a half in 48.66; Warrior's Reward (Sprint), four furlongs in 49.02; and Riley Tucker (Sprint), four furlongs in 49.51.
Just outside Barn 10 on the Fair Grounds backstretch there is a two-step wooden viewing platform set against the chain-link fence that rings the outside of the main track. That’s Al Stall’s perch. Not on a stable pony out on the track, not bantering with the jokers down at the clocker’s stand. From the top step, Stall can see most of the racing oval and out across the infield. The tote board blocks the finish wire, but he has clocked horses from his little step long enough to know when to bing his watch at the end of a work.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sunday morning marked the first of 12 consecutive days of Clocker Reports leading up to the 2010 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs Nov. 5-6. And with it came the first major decision of the Breeders’ Cup season: Stay onsite in Louisville where a handful of Breeders’ Cup horses were scheduled to work, including Classic contenders Haynesfield and Espoir City, or head up the turnpike to Keeneland where only two Cup hopefuls were expected to breeze.
Blame, arguably the leading candidate for top older horse in North America, resumed his serious training for the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Classic when he breezed a half-mile Sunday at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.
With exercise rider Casey Chavez aboard, Blame went in 47.60 seconds over a Polytrack surface that has been playing fast. The work was the first for the 4-year-old Blame since he finished second as the 4-5 favorite in the Oct. 2 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Blame and Paddy O’Prado – the favorites for Saturday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational, respectively – arrived at Belmont Park about 1:30 p.m. Friday, a day after their scheduled flight from Kentucky was canceled due to inclement weather.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The seven trainers opposing Blame in Saturday’s $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup could only hope the nasty weather that hit the New York Metropolitan area on Thursday lasted another day. For if Blame couldn’t get to Belmont Park, then he certainly couldn’t run.
Blame, the leading candidate for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, is likely to have his final pre-race blowout at Keeneland on Monday instead of Sunday, trainer Al Stall Jr. said.
“He’s had two very strong works the last two Sundays, and I’m wanting to give him just a little more time before he goes an easy half-mile,” Stall said. “It’ll be just a little tightener, no big deal. We’re pretty much set anyway.”
Blame, the leading contender for the Oct. 2 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, worked six furlongs Sunday morning over the Polytrack surface at Keeneland, going in 1:12 under Casey Chavez.
Going shortly before 8 a.m. over the Lexington, Ky., track that has seen minimal activity in recent days, Blame worked from the five-furlong pole to an eighth-mile past the wire, then proceeded to gallop out seven furlongs in 1:25.70, according to trainer Al Stall Jr.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − Blame wrapped up his noteworthy summer at Saratoga by breezing an easy four furlongs in 50.80 seconds under assistant trainer Randi Melton at the Oklahoma training center Friday.
Blame put his mark on the 2010 Saratoga meeting when he rallied through the final furlong under jockey Garrett Gomez to upset odds-on favorite Quality Road in the Grade 1 Whitney. The victory was the fifth in a row and seventh in the last eight starts for Blame, a 4-year-old son of Arch. Blame is trained by Al Stall Jr. and owned by Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm.