Classic news: Broken Vow to bypass Classic

After sitting on the fence for more than a week, trainer H. Graham Motion on Monday came down on the side of not running Broken Vow in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park. Instead, Motion said Broken Vow, who was narrowly beaten last time out in the Meadowlands Cup, will make his next two starts in Kentucky.

Broken Vow was one of several horses whose connections faced a Breeders' Cup deadline on Monday, either to pre-enter a race, or to put up supplemental nomination fees. Miss Linda, the Spinster Stakes winner, was going to be supplemented for $400,000 to the Distaff, but Janet, the winner of the Yellow Ribbon Stakes, was not supplemented for $90,000 to the Filly and Mare Turf. In addition, trainer Bobby Frankel said he was not going to run Senure in the Turf.

The pre-entered fields in all eight Breeders' Cup races, all of which are Grade 1 events, are scheduled to be announced Wednesday at Belmont Park. Final entries, and the draw for post positions, will be held one week later, on Oct. 24.

Motion said part of his reasoning for not running Broken Vow in the Classic was the impressive victory by Sakhee in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe earlier this month. Sakhee was expected to be pre-entered in both the Classic and the Turf.

"The other Europeans," Motion said, referring to Classic candidates Fantastic Light and Galileo, "are considered the equal of Sakhee, or better. Obviously dirt will be a question with them, but they are very competitive. Broken Vow is a nice horse, the best I've trained, and because of that I don't want to do the wrong thing."

Motion said Broken Vow would likely make his next start in the Grade 3, $150,000 Fayette Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 27, the same day that the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships are run in New York. Motion said Broken Vow might race once more this year, in the Grade 2, $400,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 23.