BC Turf: Woodbine turf condition will help decide Big Blue Kitten’s next start

Big Blue Kitten may be the lone representative in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trainer Chad Brown.

On Tuesday, Brown said Big Blue Kitten was “50-50” for the BC Turf, with the $1 million Canadian International at Woodbine on Oct. 19 also a consideration. Weather will play a significant role in the decision, Brown said. Both races are over 1 1/2 miles.

“We’ll monitor how the horse is doing and the weather,” Brown said. “I certainly wouldn’t want to run him in Canada if it was soft.”

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Big Blue Kitten, 6, finished fourth in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Sept. 27, 2 1/4 lengths behind the winner, Main Sequence. Twilight Eclipse and Imagining, second and third in that race, are candidates for the BC Turf.

Big Blue Kitten was eighth in the 2013 BC Turf at Santa Anita as an 8-1 chance. This year, he will be a much higher price if he starts. Big Blue Kitten has started three times this year, winning the minor Lure Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 2 and running second in the Grade 3 Cliff Hanger Stakes at Monmouth Park on Aug. 24 prior to the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic.

Brown said the Ramseys’ Real Solution, who finished ninth in the 2013 BC Turf, is not under consideration for this year’s race. Real Solution, 5, was seventh in the Arlington Million in August and sixth in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic.

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The list of BC Turf candidates is led by Flintshire, who was second in Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and Main Sequence, who is unbeaten in three Grade 1 races since joining trainer Graham Motion’s stable this year.

There are no major stakes for the turf-distance division this week. The Canadian International is the next major race for the division in North America, but its 13-day proximity to the BC Turf all but eliminates any runners from making a relatively quick turnaround.