Clement has Best Performance take dirt

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Christophe Clement has been snakebit when it comes to the Breeders’ Cup, having failed to win a race from his 32 starters, but with half of those runners finishing in the top four, including five seconds.

Clement, who prefers to accentuate the positive, will be bringing three horses to Del Mar for this year’s Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 3-4, and he’s quite confident the trio will give a solid account of themselves. Two of those runners put in their final workouts Monday at Belmont Park.

Best Performance, who was pre-entered for the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf, worked an interesting five furlongs in 1:01.48 on Monday morning over Belmont’s main track. Under jockey Joel Rosario, Best Performance started two lengths behind her workmate Paige and took a ton of dirt as Rosario placed her directly behind Paige, who was ridden by Kendrick Carmouche. At the eighth pole, Rosario tipped Best Performance just outside of Paige, and they bested that one by a half-length at the wire. Best Performance extended her advantage to a length or so a furlong past the wire as she got her final quarter in 23.60 seconds.

Best Performance’s lone win came on dirt, and the manner in which she worked Monday suggested that she might be pre-entered in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies on the dirt as well, but Clement she was pre-entered only for the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

“Firm turf is ideal for her, and that’s where you should go,” Clement said.

Asked what the purpose of having Best Performance work as she did Monday, Clement said: “I wanted her to do what I call a turf kick. I’d like her to come from behind horses, which she did very well. I’m very happy.”

In two starts on turf, Best Performance finished second to Ultima D in the Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Kentucky Downs and second to Significant Form in the Grade 3 Miss Grillo at Belmont.

Clement will bring two horses to the Turf Sprint. Pure Sensation, third in last year’s BC Turf Sprint, had an easy work Monday, going from the quarter pole to the wire in 25.19, according to Daily Racing Form. He was officially given a time of 36.98 for three furlongs by track clockers.

Clement said Pure Sensation had “an aggressive work” 10 days ago, so he didn’t need to do much in this final move. Clement said he moved the work up from Wednesday because rain is forecast Tuesday into Wednesday.

The Clement-trained Disco Partner, winner of the Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational on Oct. 7, worked Saturday and will work again this coming Saturday. His owners, Frank and Patricia Generazio, put up a $100,000 fee to make Disco Partner eligible for the Turf Sprint. The Generazios also own Pure Sensation.

“I wouldn’t trade the two sprinters,” Clement said. “I think it’s a fun thing for the owner to have one that shows speed and one coming from out of it, because you can help each other out.”