The Pizza Man will prep for Breeders’ Cup Turf at Laurel

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Arlington Million winner The Pizza Man will be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup Turf at a cost of $100,000, co-owner and breeder Rich Papiese said on Wednesday, and to get to that $3 million race, The Pizza Man will go to Laurel Park.

Yes, Papiese, who operates Midwest Thoroughbreds with his wife, Karen, is not afraid to diverge from the beaten path. And rather than run in a race like the Kentucky Cup Turf at Kentucky Downs or the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont, Papiese and trainer Roger Brueggemann prefer the Commonwealth Cup, a Grade 2, $250,000 race on Sept. 19. The Pizza Man two starts ago won the Stars and Stripes Stakes over 12 furlongs, he won the Million over 10, and the BC Turf is another 12-furlong race. The Commonwealth Cup is run at just nine furlongs, but Papiese and Brueggemann believe that will serve as a good prep.

“We don’t mind the cutback before the Breeders’ Cup,” Papiese said. “And then he’ll appreciate the added distance.”

Papiese said it was a “foregone conclusion” that The Pizza Man would be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup, though there’s no reason to make the payment until the race draws nearer.

And ambitious plans for The Pizza Man don’t end with the BC Turf. Papiese said The Pizza Man had been invited to the Japan Cup after winning the Million, and that he had committed to taking the horse to the race if all is well.

“If he’s sound, the plan is to go to Japan,” he said.

Midwest Thoroughbreds supplemented Work All Week to the 2014 BC Sprint and won the $1.5 million race, and Work All Week remains on target to try to win the BC Sprint for a second time, Papiese said. After poor starts led to second-place finishes in his first two races this year, Work All Week romped Aug. 1 in the Sen. Robert Byrd Memorial at Mountaineer and is being pointed to the Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland as his final start before the BC Sprint.