Tonalist, Red Vine among Breeders' Cup workers

ELMONT, N.Y. – After watching two of his four potential Breeders’ Cup horses put in workouts Saturday morning at Belmont Park, trainer Christophe Clement had reason to be both happy and frustrated.

Clement was very happy with the moves Tonalist (Breeders’ Cup Classic) and Red Vine (Dirt Mile) put in over the Belmont main track. He was frustrated that for the 10th consecutive year, he and his fellow New York trainers have to ship to run in the Breeders’ Cup. This year’s event will be held at Keeneland for the first time.

“When you see the way some of our horses train at Belmont Park, it’s a pity we don’t have the Breeders’ Cup here,” Clement said. “For the last 10 years, we’ve been traveling our best horses all around the country, and once in a while it would be nice to run in New York, but I guess that’s the way it is. It’s very frustrating because we have an amazing racetrack, and every year for the Breeders’ Cup we have to ship.”

That was the only gripe Clement had Saturday morning after watching Tonalist work five furlongs in 1:00.64 and Red Vine cover the same distance in 59.43 seconds in separate, solo moves.

Tonalist and Red Vine were two of seven New York-based Breeders’ Cup horses to put in workouts on a crisp autumn morning on Long Island. Other workers included Tap to It, La Verdad, Wavell Avenue, Big Blue Kitten, and Slumber.

Tonalist, under exercise rider Lee Vickers, worked in the second set after the 8:45 a.m. renovation break. Tonalist went his first quarter in 24.50 seconds and his final three furlongs in 36.14 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.07. Vickers gave Tonalist mild encouragement from the eighth pole to the wire and asked for a little more from the wire to the 1 3/8-mile pole.

“Looked great, nice maintenance work, moved very well, very willing,” Clement said. “He will have a work maybe a notch more aggressive next week with Johnny Velazquez.”

As he has throughout his career, Tonalist breezed with bar shoes on his two front feet. He does not wear bar shoes when he races.

“Just normal,” Clement said. “We don’t have an issue with him, we’re just trying to protect him.”

Clement has said he is toying with the idea of putting blinkers on Tonalist for the Classic, but he did not wear them in his Saturday breeze.

“I thought the first work on his own, there was no need for blinkers,” Clement said. “I’ll work him back next week, then we’ll think about it.”

A few hours earlier, Clement had Red Vine work five furlongs in company with Life in Shambles. Red Vine started about two lengths behind and then had to go around a Chad Brown-trained duo who had broken off a few yards in front of him. Red Vine, with Joel Rosario up, got his final three furlongs in 35.76 seconds and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.80.

“I thought it was a very good work, and it looked easy,” Clement said.

Clement’s other two potential Breeders’ Cup horses, Hard Not to Like (Filly and Mare Turf) and Pure Sensation (Turf Sprint), were scheduled to breeze Sunday and Wednesday, respectively.

Ralph Nicks, the trainer of the 2-year-old filly Tap to It, had a feeling similar to Clement’s regarding the Breeders’ Cup venue. Tap to It breezed a solid half-mile in 47.80 seconds over the main track Saturday morning, her second straight good-looking move here.

Nicks said when he saw Tap to It on Thursday after having not seen her for a few days, his first thought was, “I wish the Breeders’ Cup was today. Just the look in her eye and the way she looked. It would be awesome if the Breeders’ Cup was here and awesome if it was today. But we got two more weeks.”

Tap to It will leave New York by van Tuesday and arrive Wednesday morning at Keeneland, where she will breeze next weekend.

La Verdad, who has finished first in all five of her starts this year, worked five furlongs in 1:00.43 over the Belmont training track, a surface that was playing pretty slowly Saturday morning.

Trainer Linda Rice said she was just looking for “a middle-of-the-road” work. La Verdad, under exercise rider Raul Munoz, was strong going to the pole, her head cocked to the right at the start of the breeze.

“I don’t want to do too much with her,” Rice said. “I’ve been breezing her every Saturday, and she trains so strong every day. We don’t usually breeze her on that tight a schedule, so I don’t want to overdo it. As you can see, she’s tough, strong.”

Rice said La Verdad would be pre-entered in both the $1.5 million Sprint and the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint, but the trainer is leaning toward the Filly and Mare Sprint.

Rice is planning to run Palace in the Sprint for males, but a foot issue has developed that forced him to just jog in the barn this weekend. Noted hoof specialist Ian McKinlay was expected to work on the foot Monday, and Rice hoped to get Palace back to the track Tuesday, with a breeze possible next weekend.

“He breezed strong last week; he’s training good. He’ll be fine either way,” Rice said.

In other works:

• Trainer Chad Brown worked his Breeders’ Cup Turf duo of Big Blue Kitten and Slumber together on dirt. Slumber, equipped with blinkers, worked inside of Big Blue Kitten, and the pair went a half-mile in 49.41 seconds, galloping out five furlongs in 1:01.75.

Brown was pleased enough with both works and said that Slumber, who finished second to Big Blue Kitten in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on Oct. 3, would be supplemented to the BC Turf for a fee of $100,000.

“He deserves a chance. I just love the way he’s doing,” Brown said.

• Brown also loves how Wavell Avenue is doing leading up to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. The runner-up to La Verdad in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom on Sept. 26, Wavell Avenue worked a half-mile in 48.92 seconds Saturday over the main track “in a common gallop,” Brown said.

“She’s very fit. She’s coming off a new top. I love the way she’s breezed out of her race two weeks in a row,” Brown said. “She’s a filly that just continues to get better.”

• Portfolio Manager, third in the Grade 1 Champagne as a maiden, worked a half-mile in 48.19 seconds in company with 2-year-old maiden winner Gift Box.

Brown said Portfolio Manager could be pre-entered Monday for the $2 million Juvenile. Gift Box is going to train up to the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct on Nov. 28.