Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile: Two races on menu for Injunction
One horse. Two restaurants.
It’s going to be a busy Breeders’ Cup week for trainer Carlo Vaccarezza.
He has Injunction under serious consideration for the $1 million BC Dirt Mile on Nov. 5 at Keeneland, and co-owns and operates two popular restaurants in Lexington, Ky.
Injunction is coming off a runner-up finish to Senor Buscador in the Ack Ack, a BC Challenge race Oct. 1 at Churchill Downs. He is now settled in at Keeneland as his connections debate nominating him to the Breeders’ Cup program at a cost of $100,000.
“We’re thinking about it, but we haven’t made that decision yet,” Vaccarezza said Tuesday. “We’ll proceed as if we’re going into the race. If not, we’re going to the Clark.”
The Grade 1, $750,000 Clark is Nov. 25 at Churchill. Injunction will be moving back to two turns for either race.
“He’s a very game horse with a huge heart and you see his record, he always tries,” Vaccarezza said.
About a year ago, Vaccarezza and partners opened Frank and Dino’s in Lexington. La Folie, a French restaurant, launched three months ago.
“We’re doing real well, much more than I was expecting,” Vaccarezza said of La Folie. “But it’s not as busy as Frank and Dino’s.”
Vaccarezza was speaking from Frank and Dino’s, preparing for the dinner crowd. Earlier in the day, the trainer was at Keeneland.
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“The mornings in the barn and in the afternoon and early evenings, at one of the two restaurants, it’s a long day,” he said.
Vaccarezza trains Injunction for son Nicholas and John Williams, a restaurant partner who is the co-breeder of champion and BC Sprint candidate Jackie’s Warrior.
As for Injunction, a decision on the Breeeders’ Cup must be made by pre-entries on Oct. 24.
“You have to think about it,” said Vaccarezza, who bred 2012 BC Turf winner Little Mike. “You can be a hero, or you can be a goat. We have nothing to prove. He’s a gelding by Skipshot. So basically, what I’m looking at right now is, ‘Have fun, enjoy the horse, and if we go to the Breeders’ Cup, we go to the Breeders’ Cup.’ ”
Sounds like the Frank and Dino way.
Senor Buscador to Dirt Mile
Trainer Todd Fincher was at Zia Park in New Mexico on Monday following a whirlwind trip to Kentucky in which Senor Buscador captured the Ack Ack, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race for the Dirt Mile, and Slammed won the Thoroughbred Club of America in her final prep for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.
“The last seven-day span has been pretty good,” Fincher said.
He said Senor Buscador emerged from his win in “excellent” condition and is scheduled for two works leading up to the Dirt Mile. Francisco Arrieta has the mount in the BC.
Senor Buscador raced in sixth early in the Ack Ack before going on to a 1 1/4-length win.
“I was surprised he was already on the lead at the quarter pole,” Fincher said of the established closer. “I thought he’d be mowing them down at the eighth pole.”
Senor Buscador will move to two turns, and he’s a stakes winner at the configuration.
Senor Buscador’s half-brother, multiple stakes winner Sheriff Brown, worked Monday at Zia and is possible for the traditional marathon stakes on the BC undercard, Fincher said.
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