Classic: V. E. Day joins the field

ARCADIA, Calif. – The addition to the Breeders’ Cup Classic of V. E. Day, withdrawals of Noble Moon and Tapiture, and penultimate works from Bayern, Footbridge, Majestic Harbor, Cigar Street, and Tonalist capped a flurry of activity in the 24 hours leading up to the pre-entry deadline on Monday for the Nov. 1 Classic.

Pre-entries for all 13 Breeders’ Cup races were due Monday, but will not be announced until Wednesday. This is the first stage of a two-stage entry process, with final entries taken, and posts drawn, on Oct. 27. The Breeders’ Cup will be held at Santa Anita on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

V. E. Day, the Travers Stakes winner, is the latest 3-year-old to join a Classic field already overflowing with 3-year-olds, including California Chrome and Shared Belief, as well as Bayern and Tonalist, who are expected to be the first four betting choices in the 1 1/4-mile Classic. If so, it will be the first time that 3-year-olds are the first four choices in the Classic, one of the original seven Breeders’ Cup races first run in 1984.

Jimmy Jerkens, the trainer of V. E. Day, on Monday said that West Coast rider Joe Talamo would be aboard V. E. Day. Javier Castellano rode the colt to victory in the Travers and in his most-recent start, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, in which he finished sixth but was moved to fifth on the disqualification of Moreno. Castellano, however, already had committed to replace Junior Alvarado on Moreno in the Classic.

Jerkens said he planned to work V. E. Day this week in New York, travel to California this weekend, then “do a little something after we’re out there.”

The likely field for the Classic came into sharper focus over the weekend when Noble Moon was removed from consideration, and Ron Winchell, owner of Tapiture, said Tapiture would be entered in the Dirt Mile. Tapiture had been under consideration for both the Classic and the Dirt Mile, but Winchell, after watching Tapiture work five furlongs in 59.60 seconds here at Santa Anita on Sunday, said “the Dirt Mile is more his spot at this point in his career.”

At Santa Anita on Monday, Classic contenders Bayern (1:12.20), Footbridge (1:13), and Majestic Harbor (1:11.60) all worked six furlongs for the race.

Bayern, with jockey Martin Garcia, went in company with a Bob Baffert-trained stablemate.

“I was going to have him sit off the other horse and then I thought better of it,” Baffert said. “That’s not his game. I’m not going to teach him to lay off.”

Baffert had Bayern going out a mile in 1:38.

Footbridge worked with jockey Iggy Puglisi, though Rafael Bejarano has the mount in the Classic. Harty called the work “sensational.”

“A really top-class piece of work,” Harty said. “He went off easy and picked it up most of the way. I couldn’t be happier.”

Majestic Harbor worked with his regular jockey, Tyler Baze.

“Everything went super,” said his trainer, Sean McCarthy. “He picked up a little company, not intentionally, and galloped out very, very strong.”

At Belmont Park on Sunday, Cigar Street (59.72 seconds) and Tonalist (1:00.57) both worked five furlongs. They both are scheduled to have one more work in New York before heading to California.

– additional reporting by David Grening