Breeders' Cup candidates working for preparation races
ARCADIA, Calif. – Everything is heating up at Santa Anita – triple-digit temperatures are forecast for Sunday and there were workouts Saturday by several Breeders’ Cup candidates.
Five Grade 1 prep races for the Breeders’ Cup are scheduled for Oct. 1 at Santa Anita; top contenders that worked Saturday for the prep races included Stellar Wind, Straight Fire, Champagne Room, and With Honors.
Stellar Wind, upset winner over Beholder in her most recent start two months ago, worked a solid six furlongs as she prepares for a rubber match with her rival in the Zenyatta Stakes, a prep race for the BC Distaff.
Straight Fire, runner-up as the favorite in the Del Mar Futurity, went a slow five furlongs in 1:03.40, breezing. Straight Fire will stretch to two turns in the FrontRunner Stakes, a prep race for the BC Juvenile.
Champagne Room and With Honors worked five furlongs for the Chandelier Stakes, a prep race for the BC Juvenile Fillies. Champagne Room finished third in the Del Mar Debutante. With Honors won both starts; the Chandelier will be her first start on dirt.
Stellar Wind was the first big name to work following the 6:30 break. She broke off behind stablemate Jes Jaa, and was joined by an unidentified worker at the half. Stellar Wind put away Jes Jaa, ranged outside the second rival in deep stretch and completed the work in 1:12.40.
Trainer John Sadler was happy with drill. “She’s like a B+ worker all the time, and you always want company-company,” Sadler said, referring to Stellar Wind coping with two work rivals.
Stellar Wind worked a day after Beholder’s dazzling six furlongs Friday. They meet for the third time in the Zenyatta, after swapping decisions in the Vanity Mile, won by Beholder in June at Santa Anita, and the Clement Hirsch, won by Stellar Wind in July at Del Mar.
“To me, they’re very close (in ability),” Sadler said. “My filly is very good this year. We want to run well, which I am very confident we will, and go on to the next one.”
The BC Distaff is Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.
The most interesting workout Saturday was by the 2-year-old colt Straight Fire, who went 1:03.40, breezing. It was slower than expected from a colt that sizzled the opening half in 44-and-change all three starts in summer at Del Mar.
Straight Fire’s Saturday workout was his only work since he set the pace and finished second as the odds-on favorite in the seven-furlong Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 5.
“We wanted to slow him down a little bit,” trainer Keith Desormeaux said. “He had three races at Del Mar, so the fitness was there. I wanted to do more endurance stuff with his training, so I skipped a work. I did some two-minute clipping instead of working.”
Desormeaux said he instructed his exercise rider to go slow early, and finish. “He went the last eighth in 11-flat,” Desormeaux said.
Straight Fire’s runner-up finish in the Del Mar Futurity followed his smashing maiden win that earned a 98 Beyer. He is expected to set the pace in the FrontRunner. “If he goes off and gets his eighths in 12s and 13s, his competition will be in trouble,” Desormeaux said.
With Honors, also trained by Desormeaux, has won both starts around two turns including the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies. “She’s a smooth-moving, very efficient filly, and it’s going to be fun to see if she can transfer her class from the grass to the dirt,” Desormeaux said. “It seems she works as good on the dirt as on the turf.”
With Honors worked Saturday in 1:10.20 and, according to Desormeaux, went her final furlong in 11.20. “It was a beautiful thing,” he said. What if the dirt experiment does not work? “Back to grass,” he said, referring to the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Champagne Room, winner of the Grade 2 Sorrento before finishing third in the Debutante, worked an easy five furlongs in 1:01.40. “She was just cruising,” trainer Peter Eurton said. “We’re going into (the Chandelier) a little different, with moderate works.”
Eurton believes Champagne Room was not happy going into the Debutante. “She was not in a good state of mind,” he said. “She almost flipped in the gate, she was drifting out, she was pissy ... … every time he hit her she would pin her ears. I just don’t think she was mentally where we wanted her to be.”
Eurton has slowed her works since, “to keep her mentally happy. I think she’s in that spot right now,” he said.
Other Saturday works included Jazzy Times, six furlongs in a bullet 1:11.80. He is nominated to the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 8. The impressive debut-winning juvenile filly Zapperkat worked six furlongs in 1:13.20 and could enter the Chandelier.