Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf field still a work in progress
The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf has attracted a full gate of starters eight times during its nine-year history, and the lone exception, 2013, had a 13-horse field. The race nearly always attracts more interested parties than can start, and it probably will again this year when it is run Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, but Breeders’ Cup officials even at this late date are wondering just who will fill in the margins.
At midweek, there were only 11 known likely entrants in the Juvenile Turf, and one of those horses, Salouen, isn’t entirely certain to come either since as of Wednesday he had not been declared from the Racing Post Trophy Stakes on Saturday at Doncaster in England. Aidan O’Brien has won the Juvenile Turf in three of the last five years, and while it seems very likely he will send something for the race, no one outside of O’Brien’s training yard at Ballydoyle seems to know just who that might be.
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O’Brien as of Wednesday still had four horses left in the Racing Post Trophy, with Yucatan the only seemingly certain starter. If any of the other three are taken out of the race, they could wind up in California.
In New York, two of the division leaders, Good Samaritan and Made You Look, have kept to a steady work pattern while preparing for the Juvenile Turf. Good Samaritan was an impressive winner of both of his starts, including the Grade 2 Summer at Woodbine last out. Trainer Bill Mott has kept him stabled at Saratoga, where he worked five furlongs over the turf training track Oct. 14.
Made You Look won the With Anticipation at Saratoga in his most recent race. Todd Pletcher has him training at Belmont Park, where he worked five furlongs on turf Oct. 15. Made You Look’s With Anticipation performance was flattered when runner-up Keep Quiet, another Juvenile Turf runner, returned to win the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland. That race’s second-place finisher, Ticonderoga, also is expected at Santa Anita.
Big Score pushed to the top of the Southern California wing of the division with his decisive win Oct. 10 in the Zuma Beach at Santa Anita, and the beaten favorite in that race, Bowies Hero, who finished eighth, also remains on course to run in the Juvenile Turf, according to trainer Phil D’Amato. Bowies Hero won the Del Mar Juvenile Turf in September.
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“I missed a little time with him after the Del Mar win,” D’Amato said. “He had a hot foot, and I missed a breeze.”
The likely Juvenile Turf pacesetter, Wellabled, is well off the radar while stabled at Hawthorne, where he worked a snappy half-mile on dirt Oct. 15. Wellabled won the Arlington-Washington Futurity by almost eight lengths and is 3 for 3 on synthetic surfaces, but he was beaten a nose at Saratoga in the Skidmore Stakes in his lone turf try.
– additional reportingby Steve Andersen