Breeders' Cup Turf: Point of Entry might make it back for race

Point of Entry, unraced since June because of injury, still might have enough time to be ready for the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.

That was trainer Shug McGaughey’s assessment Tuesday of Point of Entry’s progress in the month since the horse rejoined his stable following surgery for a condylar fracture to his left hind cannon bone. The injury was diagnosed following a win in the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park on June 7.

Second in the 2012 BC Turf at Santa Anita, Point of Entry has had three workouts in the past month, including a half-mile breeze in 49.93 seconds at Belmont Park last Saturday. McGaughey said Point of Entry is scheduled for a five-furlong workout this weekend.

“He had a nice work last Saturday,” McGaughey said. “I’m still a possibility. Let’s see how he trains.”

Owned by Phipps Stable, Point of Entry has won 9 of 17 starts and earned $2,314,490. He is unbeaten in two starts this year, having won the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap on Feb. 9, beating Animal Kingdom, who later won the $10 million Dubai World Cup.

Point of Entry was the 2-1 favorite in the 2012 BC Turf but is unlikely to have that role this year. The other domestic runners are led by Indy Point, the winner of the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita on Sunday, and Little Mike, Big Blue Kitten, and Real Solution, the first three finishers of the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park last Saturday.

Little Mike won the 2012 BC Turf. His nose win over Big Blue Kitten in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic was his first victory in five starts this year.

The foreign runners for the BC Turf will be better known after Sunday’s $6.4 million Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the top flat race for older horses in Europe. The field is led by the Japanese star Orfevre, a slight favorite in the future book over the French filly Treve and the German older horse Novellist.

One top American runner unlikely to start in the BC Turf is the McGaughey-trained Boisterous. Though Boisterous won the Grade 1 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park in July, McGaughey said Tuesday he does not really consider the horse a candidate for the BC Turf.