Rushing Fall, Copper Town have no BC plans

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Not every horse in terrific form at this time of year is headed to the Breeders’ Cup.

Rushing Fall and Copper Town, both eye-catching winners Saturday at Keeneland as odds-on favorites under Javier Castellano, are good examples. Rushing Fall earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure as a controlling winner of the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup a few hours after Copper Town made a splashy return with a five-length allowance triumph, earning a 101 Beyer.

Trainer Chad Brown said that Rushing Fall, whose only loss in seven career starts came in the Edgewood Stakes in May at Churchill Downs, might race one more time this year, in the Grade 1 Matriarch on Dec. 2 at Del Mar, or will be shut down to point to a 4-year-old campaign and winter in Florida. A decision likely is forthcoming this week.

Brown said the longer 1 3/8-mile distance of the BC Filly and Mare Turf or having to face males in the BC Mile convinced him and owner Bob Edwards of eFive Racing Thororoughbreds to forgo the Breeders’ Cup and to make the QE II their primary fall goal.

“The year didn’t go exactly as planned,” Brown said. “The one defeat at Churchill, missing the Belmont Oaks, missing the Lake George. Bob and I huddled up and said let’s work backward from the QE II.”

Copper Town, trained by Todd Pletcher, was returning from a layoff of a little more than a year and making just his fourth start in winning a 6 1/2-furlong allowance in a swift 1:15.91. The 4-year-old Speightstown colt was away a little slowly, then rated kindly for Castellano and gradually made up lost ground.

“He’s a special horse,” Castellano said. “It was probably a blessing I missed the break a little bit. I had to go a little wide, but he relaxed very nice and was much the best. I think you will see him in the bigger races.”

Copper Town is owned by most of the partners who campaigned Justify during his successful Triple Crown run this spring, including WinStar Farm, whose president, Elliott Walden, said the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Dec. 1 at Aqueduct is a logical next spot for Copper Town. The lengthy layoff from his previous start in October 2017 was caused by a series of unlucky events, Walden said.

“He had a spider bite and [it] swelled up in his hind end,” he said. “He had like three weeks off, and then when he had the time off he was a little jammed up coming back and we found him with a little bone bruising. It was one little thing after another.”