Clocker: Team O'Brien steals the show despite weather
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Under normal circumstances, the weather would have been the main story Thursday at Churchill Downs, where the rain, which began Wednesday afternoon, continued to fall throughout training hours, leaving the main track a sea of slop and the turf course soft and boggy one day before the two-day Breeders’ Cup begins.
But even Mother Nature could not trump the sight and spectacle of the O’Brien 16 – a seemingly unending line of 16 Aidan O’Brien-trained horses (plus four ponies) who visited the track for the first time Thursday after finally escaping quarantine. This long brigade of equine talent, under the watchful eye of O’Brien himself on the lead pony, put on quite a show for railbirds and even moved many local horsemen to stop and watch in awe at the precision of a unique training routine.
Conspicuous near the front of the pack and second in line behind his companion Seahenge was Classic contender MENDELSSOHN who, as always, announced his presence to the crowd with a couple of bellowing roars as he paused in front of the grandstand near the finish line. Seahenge, who is not competing in the Breeders’ Cup, and Mendelssohn led team O’Brien through a mile-and-three-furlong jog clockwise on the outside fence before the entire group reversed direction and cantered another 1 1/4 miles the right way before returning to the barn.
The entire routine lasted approximately 30 minutes with not a single member of the group, even the many 2-year-olds in the mix, seemingly turning a hair or losing their place in line.
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The wet conditions kept the training regimen for most everyone else to a minimum here Thursday. CATHOLIC BOY, for instance, did little more than jog a mile the wrong way before calling it a morning, with many others following a similar routine. Among those who did show a high energy level over the sloppy track were MONOMOY GIRL, who typically was wanting to do more than allowed in the morning, and CHANNEL MAKER and his nemesis GLORIOUS EMPIRE, a turf specialist who looked very happy and full of energy tugging his rider over the sloppy going.
Despite the loose condition of the turf, the course was, somewhat surprisingly, opened for training Thursday just as some of the heaviest rain began to fall. The star attraction here was the turf favorite ENABLE, who galloped once around at a leisurely pace after getting to stretch her legs with a little blowout the previous morning.
There were no official workouts recorded over the turf, although PRINCESS YAIZA did breeze a quarter-mile down the stretch around the very wide dogs in 27.03 prepping for the Filly and Mare Turf.
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Among the biggest question marks in this year’s Breeders’ Cup is ABEL TASMAN, who will seek to rebound from a very disappointing performance in the Grade 1 Zenyatta following her gut-wrenching victory over Elate five weeks earlier in the Personal Ensign. Abel Tasman, who dropped well out of contention during the early running of the Zenyatta, has been galloping in blinkers since arriving locally, and while she’s been relatively subdued each morning, it could be an indication she’ll be showing a lot more early speed once the gates open for the Distaff.
