Belmont Park: Alpha gets green light for Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile
ELMONT, N.Y. – Alpha, upset winner of the Grade 1 Woodward at Saratoga on Aug. 31, is being pointed to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Thursday.
Alpha, who at 3 dead-heated for win in the $1 million Travers with Golden Ticket – coincidentally also headed to the Dirt Mile – is coming out of a sixth-place finish in the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 28.
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“We’re going there with three others. We thought we had everything to gain and not much to lose,” said McLaughlin, who trains Alpha for Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum’s Godolphin Racing. “He’s doing great. We thought we’d give it a try.”
Alpha, who in 2012 finished last in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, will be ridden by Joe Bravo in the Dirt Mile, McLaughlin said.
On Thursday, Alpha worked four furlongs in 49.22 seconds over the Oklahoma training track. Saratoga clockers had his first eighth in 12.61 and caught him galloping out five furlongs in 1:03.92. He worked in company with Long River.
Other Breeders’ Cup runners for McLaughlin and Godolphin are Dance Card (Filly and Mare Sprint), Dancing House (Juvenile Fillies or Juvenile Fillies Turf), and Sky Painter (Juvenile Fillies Turf).
On Thursday, Dance Card was credited with a five-furlong move in 1:00.15 over the Oklahoma training track. Saratoga clockers caught her first quarter in a swift 23.22.
Dance Card, winner of last year’s Grade 1 Gazelle, has made only one start this year, that being a third-place finish in the Gallant Bloom last month at Belmont.
“She was a little rusty, didn’t break sharp, came from well behind to be third,” McLaughlin said. “She ran a very good race. We hope we move forward.”
McLaughlin said Joel Rosario would ride Dance Card in the Filly and Mare Sprint.
Noting that the synthetic surface at the Greentree training facility tends to get heavy in the fall, McLaughlin has moved many of his workouts to the dirt surface at Oklahoma.