Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint: Caracortado back to old self

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Breeders’ Cup is always rich with good story lines, but few would top Caracortado if the 6-year-old gelding wins the Turf Sprint next Saturday at Santa Anita.

Produced by a giveaway mare following a free mating, Caracortado has overcome his latest hurdle, a serious injury to his right front hoof, to emerge as a contender for the $1 million Turf Sprint.

In the weeks following a victory in the Grade 3 Daytona in January 2012 at Santa Anita, “he shed the whole frog on the foot,” said trainer Mike Machowsky, gesturing a silver-dollar-sized hole with his hands to illustrate how much of the foot was hollowed out.

A bar shoe was customized so that Caracortado could bear weight on the foot and the affected area could be cleaned and dressed several times a day. It was a long, tedious process with no guarantee that the horse would return with the prowess that has allowed him to earn more than $870,000.

Happily for Machowsky and his partners – Blahut Racing, Donkey Island Racing, and Kagele Bros. – Caracortado returned last month from a nearly 21-month layoff with an extremely useful prep, finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Eddie D, a key race toward the Turf Sprint.

“He wasn’t 100 percent ready for that, but I was running out of time to get a race in him before the Breeders’ Cup,” Machowsky said. “I was worried we wouldn’t make the field because we didn’t have any Breeders’ Cup points and we were going to have to be selected in” through a prerace selection process. “Thankfully, we got the call Tuesday that we got in. The horse has trained great out of the Eddie D, and I’m really excited about getting to run him.”

Caracortado, which is Spanish for “Scarface,” got his name because he came to the track with a six-inch scar on his face. Machowsky had bred Mons Venus, a mare in whom he originally owned a one-third stake, for no stud fee to Cat Dreams. As a young horse, Caracortado “had something happen to him out in the field” that led to him getting “about 30 stitches” in his face, Machowsky said.

“We’ve had a lot of fun with this horse from the time he was young, and he’s overcome quite a bit,” Machowsky said. “This would be the ultimate.”

No changes due to Borel injury

The fractured fibula sustained by Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel on Wednesday at Keeneland did not affect the BC plans for Taptowne, a Dirt Mile longshot who has been ridden by Borel in his last eight starts. Brian Hernandez Jr. already had been tabbed for the mount by trainer Tim Glyshaw.

“Calvin likely will be back on him when we go back to Oaklawn Park this winter,” Glyshaw said.

Borel, the three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey based primarily in Kentucky, had no BC mounts lined up.

◗ NBC Sports said Larry Collmus will call all 14 Breeders’ Cup races for television. Trevor Denman will still call the races on the Santa Anita public-address system and for the BC simulcast feed.