Sprint: Defections leave Private Zone as likely favorite

The complexion of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint changed dramatically last week with the loss of two major players, defending champion Work All Week and the once-beaten multiple Grade 1 winner Rock Fall.

Work All Week, the 2014 BC Sprint champion and reigning Eclipse Award winner in the sprint division, was retired after his connections discovered a stress fracture in his right knee shortly after his third-place finish in the Grade 3 Phoenix.

Rock Fall suffered a catastrophic injury while pulling up after a routine workout at Keeneland last Saturday and had to be euthanized. The work was the first for Rock Fall since his victory in the Grade 1 Vosburgh two weeks earlier. Rock Fall, who had won the Grade 1 Vanderbilt in his previous start, was expected to vie for favoritism in the Sprint with Private Zone.

With Work All Week and Rock Fall out, Private Zone now figures to be the clear-cut favorite in the Sprint, with the sensational 3-year-old Runhappy likely to be the public’s second choice.

Private Zone left Monmouth Park on Tuesday and was scheduled to train at Keeneland for the first time Wednesday. He will have two works prior to the Sprint, according to trainer Jorge Navarro, with the first to come Sunday.

“I backed up on him a little before we left, just two-minute licked him five furlongs,” said Navarro. “He’s ready.”

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Although it will make Private Zone’s task easier, Navarro said he was saddened to hear of the news regarding Work All Week and Rock Fall.

“It’s really a shame. I feel bad for the connections of both horses,” said Navarro. “It certainly would have made it more interesting for everybody watching the race if they were both in the field. But I’m totally confident in my horse and the way he’s training, so in the end, I really don’t think it would have made a difference.”

Runhappy, working for the first since earning an automatic berth in the Sprint with his victory in the Phoenix, sizzled five furlongs from the gate in 57.80 seconds at Keeneland on Wednesday, posting splits of 23.20 and 34.40 before galloping out in 1:10.60, according to track clockers. Former rider Marcus O’Donnell was aboard.

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“He came out of the gate very well. I was very pleased with that and the way the whole work went,” said trainer Maria Borell. “I was just trying to get him to break a little sharper than he did in his last race, and I thought he did that this morning.”

Like Navarro, Borell said she felt for the connections of Rock Fall and Work All Week.

“As a trainer, you never want to see harm come to any horse at any time, and I feel sad for everyone associated with both those horses,” said Borell. “I’m also disappointed my horse won’t get a chance to run against them. I was actually really looking forward to seeing and competing against Rock Fall.”