Breeders' Cup Clocker: Soldier's Call does a little bit of everything

CHURCHILL DOWNS
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature: 45
Track: Fast
Turf: Good

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The gang for the 2018 Breeders’ Cup is just about all here at Churchill Downs. Training hours on Tuesday not only provided an opportunity to get a first look at dozens of new arrivals, including the large contingent of Breeders’ Cup contenders from the barns of trainers Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher, but also to see some of the Euros really stretch their legs for the first time. That group is led by the two-time Arc winner and heavy Turf favorite Enable.

The weather has not changed much this past week, with unseasonably cold conditions prevailing throughout the morning once again on Tuesday. But that’s all about to change over the next 24 hours, with heavy rain forecast beginning Wednesday morning and continuing into Thursday.

There was only one official Breeders’ Cup worker on Tuesday, Juvenile Turf Sprint hopeful Soldier’s Call, although Mind Your Biscuits blew out a quarter-mile down the stretch over the main track and both Havana Grey and Comedy did likewise on the turf just before the end of training hours at 10 a.m.

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Soldier’s Call had an interesting morning. He began by schooling in and breaking out of the starting gate before pulling up rather abruptly. He then galloped approximately five-eighths of a mile, broke off at the three-furlong marker, and breezed to the wire in 13, 37.19, going easily and looking good, his ears pricked at the end. There was no gallop-out time as his rider reined him in quickly once passing the finish line. He appears ready for big effort in the inaugural Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Both Havana Grey and Comedy looked sharp blowing out over the “good” turf course, with Comedy particularly impressive zipping a quarter-mile in 23.36 while switching back to her left lead on cue at the top of the stretch, something many Euros will not do working counter-clockwise in the U.S. The older Havana Grey did not switch until inside the sixteenth pole but was also quick down the lane, completing his quarter in 23.56.

Enable did little but canter in the mile chute on Monday, and switched to her surface of choice, the turf, on Tuesday and had a good morning. She galloped once around, looking happy with her ears pricked throughout.

A number of other horses left very favorable impressions during routine gallops on Tuesday, both on the dirt and over the turf, with Polydream getting the No. 1 star. The Group 1 winner, a leading contender for the Mile, was reaching out beautifully as she breezed down the stretch on the main track at far better than a two-minute clip, completing a half-mile to the wire in 53.13 before continuing strongly into and around the clubhouse turn. She will make her U.S. debut off a very troubled trip against Group 1 opposition last month at Longchamp.

Accelerate had an excellent morning, showing terrific energy of his own galloping out near the center of the strip during the special Breeders’ Cup training session at 7:30. He drew post 14 for the Classic the previous evening.

With five 2-year-old races on Friday’s Breeders’ Cup card, there is plenty of young talent on display. Among the more eye-catching juveniles today was the Brown-trained Complexity, the morning-line favorite for the Juvenile. Also looking good was one of his chief adversaries, the striking south Florida-based Well Defined. Trained by Kathleen O’Connell, he seems to be relishing the cooler weather. On the filly side of the ledger, I loved the manner in which Jaywalk was tugging her rider around the mile oval this morning.

Two horses who could give Enable a run for her money in the Turf are stablemates Talismanic and Waldgeist. They trained in tandem on the main track after cantering around the turf course on Monday. Waldgeist got a little warm his first day on the track Monday, but that was not the case on Tuesday. Talismanic, the defending Turf champion and one of the easiest horses to spot out on the racetrack due to his unique markings, had a very high energy level while checking all the right boxes this morning.