Breeders' Cup Sprint: Larger purse helps lure Private Zone

After briefly toying with the notion of running Private Zone in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, his connections have now all but decided on running the four-time Grade 1 winner in the Sprint, in which he is expected to be favored over Rock Fall and Runhappy.

Rene Douglas, the racing manager for Private Zone, said Wednesday that the decision is a tough one because he believes his horse would be very formidable in both spots. But in the end, the larger purse for the Sprint and Private Zone’s history of success in one-turn races helped Douglas make the final decision.

“Why change anything if it’s not broken and he’s been doing so well sprinting?” said Douglas. “Believe me, I’d love to try the mile going two turns and finishing at the first wire. Nobody is going to be in front of him at a mile, and how are they going to catch him with that short stretch? But it’s not as if he’s going to be fourth or fifth choice in the Sprint. He’s likely going to be the favorite. And the money is a lot more as well.”

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The purse for the Sprint is $1.5 million compared with $1 million for the Dirt Mile.

Private Zone finished third, beaten less than two lengths, in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Two of his Grade 1 wins have come at six furlongs, one at seven furlongs, and the other at a mile, the one-turn Cigar Mile last November at Aqueduct.

Meanwhile, trainer Guadalupe Preciado remains frustrated in his attempts to get Favorite Tale, who qualified for the BC Sprint by winning the Smile Sprint Handicap in July, to Keeneland. Favorite Tale is stabled at Parx, where the barn area is quarantined until Oct. 29.

“Right now, I’m in trouble,” Preciado said on Wednesday. “They want me there at Keeneland by the 28th, I guess for security purposes, and I cannot leave here until the 29th.”

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According to Dora Delgado, senior vice president of Breeders’ Cup Ltd., Preciado’s only option at the moment is to find a facility that will allow Favorite Tale to ship in from Parx. The horse would be tested at that facility and cleared to go on to Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup.

“Right now, that’s his best option, and I’m not sure anyone will be willing to take the horse under the circumstances, unless Breeders’ Cup decides to make some kind of an exception, perhaps similar to what occurred as a result of Hurricane Sandy a couple of years ago,” said Delgado. “As far as we can determine and been advised by Will Farmer, the head veterinarian from the Kentucky [Horse] Racing Commission, he is currently unable to leave Parx to ship directly here before the 72-hour security requirement.”

◗ Trainer Maria Borell said a mile could very well be in Runhappy’s future, but not this year. The exciting 3-year-old earned an expenses-paid berth in the Sprint with his impressive victory last Friday in the Grade 3 Phoenix at Keeneland, where he overcame a slow start to beat a stellar field that included defending Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Work all Week.

“I do think he’ll be a great miler,” said Borell. “But for this year, we’ll stick with the Sprint.”

Borell said she plans to work Runhappy from the gate, probably next week at Keeneland, to get him to break sharper in the Sprint than he did in the Phoenix.

“I think he knew the surface wasn’t great, and he was just being a little careful the other day,” said Borell. “He also had to stand in there a long time, being in the 1 post. This whole thing has been like a dream to me, and I really want to thank Jim McIngvale for having given me the opportunity to be in the position I’m in at the moment.”