Dettori takes mount on Imperative in Breeders' Cup Classsic

ARCADIA, Calif. – Imperative will be a longshot in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, but his profile was raised exponentially Thursday when trainer George Papaprodromou said he had secured Frankie Dettori, the multiple British riding champion, for the race.

Papaprodromou dropped the news shortly after Imperative turned in a sharp six-furlong work at Santa Anita in his final drill for the Classic.

Dettori, 43, won the BC Classic here in 2008 aboard Raven’s Pass. The race was run on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface, which was then in place at Santa Anita but has since been replaced with dirt.

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Dettori replaces Kent Desormeaux, who had ridden Imperative in his seven prior starts. Desormeaux has been sidelined recently with fractured ribs after being kicked by a horse at Santa Anita earlier at this fall meeting. Desormeaux announced this week that he intends to return to action Sunday, but Papaprodromou said he had begun the process of finding a rider earlier because he “didn’t want to wait until the last second” to see if Desormeaux would make it back.

“I didn’t want to take a chance,” Papaprodromou said.

Imperative most recently was fifth of seven in the Awesome Again Stakes, which was won by Shared Belief, who is expected to be the favorite in the Classic. Imperative’s lone win in nine starts this year came in the Charles Town Classic in April, with Desormeaux up. Imperative was claimed last December for $50,000 and has since earned more than $1.2 million.

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His work Thursday was encouraging. Imperative broke off just behind stablemate Mr. Sexy – who is pre-entered in the BC Turf Sprint and BC Sprint – and went evenly with him through the stretch while appearing to be going easily under exercise rider Mary MacDonald. Daily Racing Form timed Imperative in 1:12.21 for six furlongs and had him going out seven furlongs in 1:26.04.

“He was cruising out there,” Papaprodromou said. “He worked well. That’s it. He’s done. He’s ready to run.”

At Belmont Park, wet weather during the middle part of this week may cause final Classic works by Zivo and Tonalist to be pushed back by a day.

Trainer Chad Brown said he most likely would work Zivo on Sunday and fly him to California on Monday. Trainer Christophe Clement said he would work Tonalist Saturday or Sunday, then fly him Sunday following a Saturday work or Monday following a Sunday work. There are equine charters going from New York to California both days.

There were 15 horses pre-entered Wednesday in the Classic. A maximum of 14 can run. Big Cazanova (Elvis Trujillo the rider) is currently on bubble. The 14 in the main body of the race are Bayern (Martin Garcia), California Chrome (Victor Espinoza), Candy Boy (Corey Nakatani), Cigar Street (John Velazquez), Footbridge (Rafael Bejarano), Imperative (Dettori), Majestic Harbor (Tyler Baze), Moreno (Javier Castellano), Shared Belief (Mike Smith), Toast of New York (Jamie Spencer), Tonalist (Joel Rosario), V. E. Day (Joe Talamo), Zivo (Jose Lezcano), and Prayer for Relief, who has yet to have a rider confirmed.