Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf picture beginning to clear

In Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf action last weekend, Big Score asserted himself as the leading California hope for the race, Keep Quiet looked like the best in the Midwest, Ticonderoga showed that he remains a talented work in progress, and everyone still was waiting to find out whom trainer Aidan O’Brien planned to send.

At Keeneland, Keep Quiet, a 4-1 chance, won the Grade 3 Bourbon by 1 1/2 lengths over 9-10 favorite Ticonderoga, their relative odds a demonstration of the spell trainer Chad Brown holds over bettors. Ticonderoga had looked good finishing second to the very promising Good Samaritan in his career debut, then impressively won a maiden race at Belmont.

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Keep Quiet was a Saratoga turf-route maiden winner who had finished second in the Grade 2 With Anticipation there. He did everything right Sunday, pressing a moderate pace while Ticonderoga raced very greenly. Ticonderoga twisted his body in an apparent attempt to look at the grandstand as jockey Javier Castellano fought to keep the colt from lugging in.

Ticonderoga already is racing in blinkers, and Brown said he will try to correct the colt’s problems before the Juvenile Turf on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

“I’m going to make further equipment changes with this horse, and if he breezes straight and strong and he looks sharp, I’m inclined to take a shot in the Breeder’s Cup,” Brown said.

Big Score won the Zuma Beach Stakes on Monday at Santa Anita, turning in the strongest performance of his three-start career. A debut winner in a Del Mar turf mile, Big Score had rallied from last of 13 to finish second behind Bowies Hero in the Sept. 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf.

But on Monday, jockey Flavien Prat kept Big Score far closer to the early leaders after breaking from a wide post, and by the top of the stretch, Big Score already had nearly made the front. He led by two lengths at the stretch call and three at the finish, a dominant performance, and got an 85 Beyer Speed Figure, a career best.

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Big Score appears to be improving at just the right time for trainer Tim Yakteen and owner-breeder George Krikorian, but Bowies Hero, the Zuma Beach favorite, went in the wrong direction Monday, finishing a lackluster eighth.

Good Samaritan, who won the Summer Stakes at Woodbine after beating Ticonderoga, continues to work steadily in New York for the Juvenile Turf, as does With Anticipation winner Made You Look.

The Grade 1 Dewhurst on Saturday at Newmarket was won by Churchill, who could be O’Brien’s leading hope for the Epsom Derby. That is not the sort of horse O’Brien sends to the Juvenile Turf, a race he has won three times in the last five years.

– additional reportingby David Grening