Big Business, away from the races since February, returns Sunday in a $90,000 allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs. The race looked like it was written for El Kabeir, but the multiple-graded-stakes-winning 3-year-old was not entered.
Tencendur, runner-up in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial and the Ohio Derby, recently rejoined trainer George Weaver’s barn in Saratoga after being sidelined for the summer due to a chipped sesamoid bone.
Silvestre de Sousa has gone from hunted to hunter. De Sousa, champion jockey in the United Kingdom for 2015 with 132 victories, made his first visit Friday morning to Belmont Park, where he intends to start riding next week. Along with his agent, Seth Benzel, de Sousa was making the rounds Friday and trying to drum up business for his attempt at succeeding in North America.
Holy Lute, who was listed in pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint but was meant for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, has been moved to the list of pre-entries for the Turf Sprint, according to both the horse’s connections and an official with Breeders’ Cup.
Trainer Linda Rice had pre-entered both La Verdad and Palace to Breeders’ Cup races next weekend, but said Friday that she intended to run both in stakes races at Belmont Park this Saturday instead.
Frosted and Hard Aces, who will try to pull off an upset in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland, both turned in their final works on Friday, a day when Beholder had a good day both on the track and off at Keeneland.
With some horsemen wanting more time to ponder their options with cross-entered horses for Breeders’ Cup races, officials have decided to give them until entry time at 10 a.m. Eastern on Monday to finalize which race they are going to choose,
As long as we’re indulging in rampant fantasies – Cubs in the World Series; Trump in the White House – why not let the imagination run riot as Breeders’ Cup week at Keeneland begins? Why not wonder aloud what might have happened had the two finest mares of the young 21st century met at the top of the Breeders’ Cup mountain in the fullness of their 5-year-old form?
Del Rio Harbor returns to Hastings, where he looks like the one to beat in the $35,000 Harbour View on Sunday’s closing day of the meet.
Hosting the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland for the first time has been a major undertaking on the part of many, but the races are only half of the equation. This year’s Breeders’ Cup is historic not only for its venue, but for being held in conjunction with a major North American auction, with horses showing for the Keeneland November breeding stock sale during the two race days.
