Express Train, Max Player, Tripoli work five furlongs for Breeders' Cup

ARCADIA, Calif. – Three older horses set to take on a strong group of 3-year-olds in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar worked Sunday morning at Santa Anita in the penultimate drill for each.

Express Train, Max Player, and Tripoli all went five furlongs over a track that seemed to have more bounce in it than it had Saturday morning.

Express Train was timed in 1:01.80, working for the second straight time with Victor Espinoza, who will take over for the Classic, according to trainer John Shirreffs, who always has enjoyed his association with Espinoza.

“We go back a long time,” Shirreffs said.

Express Train most recently was third in the Awesome Again on Oct. 2 at Santa Anita.

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Tripoli, who was fourth in the Awesome Again, was timed in 1:00.

“Real nice. Had him going out seven furlongs in 1:25,” his trainer, John Sadler, said.

Both Express Train and Tripoli are scheduled to have their final drills at Santa Anita next weekend.

Max Player, most recently the winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga, was timed in 1:00.40 for Steve Asmussen, who this week is scheduled to send his Breeders’ Cup horses to Del Mar, where they would then have their final drills.

Asmussen also worked Snapper Sinclair, who is scheduled to be pre-entered in both the Mile on turf, in which he’s questionable to get in, and the Dirt Mile, in which he’s certain to get in. Snapper Sinclair went five furlongs in 1:00.80.

The prospective Dirt Mile field was reduced by one on Sunday when trainer Brad Cox informed from Kentucky that Plainsman would go instead in the Bold Ruler at Belmont next weekend, and will use that as a prep for a hoped-for start in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Dec. 4. Both those races are around one turn. Plainsman won the Ack Ack, a one-turn mile, at Churchill Downs in his last start. The Dirt Mile is run around two turns at Del Mar.

Pre-entries for all Breeders’ Cup races are due Monday, and will be announced Wednesday.

With a storm set to hit Southern California on Monday, causing Santa Anita to already announce that the track would be closed for workouts that day, trainers were sure to get in key drills Sunday. Some 225 horses had workouts recorded Sunday morning, many with designs on Breeders’ Cup races.

Clairiere, headed to the Distaff for Asmussen, worked five furlongs in 1:00.40. South American import Blue Stripe, also going to the Distaff, went a mile in 1:42.60.

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Hit the Road, an unlucky third in the City of Hope Mile, worked a half-mile in 48.20 seconds for trainer Dan Blacker.

Pinehurst, heading to the Juvenile, worked five furlongs in 1:00 for trainer Bob Baffert, who said he could pre-enter three in the Juvenile. Corniche, the American Pharoah winner, was expected, but he said Barossa, who worked an effortless half-mile in 49.80 seconds on Sunday, also could get the green light.

“There should be a lot of speed in the race and he can sit off it,” Baffert said.

Baffert also worked As Time Goes By, who could go in the Distaff and join stablemate Private Mission. As Time Goes By was timed in 1:00 for five furlongs.

Baffert said that Grace Adler, who disappointed in the Chandelier after winning the Del Mar Debutante, would not go in the Juvenile Fillies.

“The race is coming up tough, and she’s still developing, so I think I’ll wait for the Los Alamitos Starlet,” Baffert said of a race in December. He called her last race a “clunker.”

Astronaut, who won the Del Mar Handicap to earn a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, went five furlongs in 1:02.20 for Shirreffs.

Acclimate, a potential Turf starter, worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 for Phil D’Amato.

Edgeway, slated for the Filly and Mare Sprint, worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds for Sadler.

Beer Man Can, intended for the Turf Sprint for Mark Glatt, went five furlongs in 1:01.80. Another Turf Sprint candidate, Bombard, worked five furlongs in 1:01 for Richard Mandella.