Uncle Brennie earns shot at Breeders’ Cup

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Uncle Brennie has run himself right into the Breeders’ Cup.

A strong performance Saturday in the $75,000 Sunday Silence Stakes at Louisiana Downs has led to the horse being pointed for the Grade 1, $1 million BC Juvenile Turf, said trainer Brad Cox. The one-mile race will be run Oct. 30 at Keeneland.

Uncle Brennie won his second straight race at a mile on turf in the Sunday Silence. He accounted for a maiden special weight at the trip Aug. 22 at Ellis Park. In the Sunday Silence, Uncle Brennie was strong from start to finish, racing forwardly placed early and shuttling clear late to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Uncle Brennie defeated 11 rivals and stopped the clock in 1:36.28.

“With so many horses coming out of sprint races, there was speed in the race, and I kind of thought he would be a little farther back,” said Cox, who trains Uncle Brennie for the Arkansas-based Flurry Racing Stable. “We’re excited. It was a big effort.”

Uncle Brennie shipped Sunday back to his Churchill Downs base.

“We’ll give him three or four days off,” Cox said Sunday. “I think we’re going to look at the Breeders’ Cup with him, the Juvenile Turf.”

Cox said the horse likely will train up to the race but will be nominated to the Grade 3, $250,000 Bourbon Stakes on Oct. 4 at Keeneland.

“We talked about the timing, and that would be back in three weeks, and we were running him back in three weeks [in the Sunday Silence],” said Cox. “I think that would be asking a whole lot of him, so as long as he’s doing well, we’ll probably just train him up to the Breeders’ Cup.”

Cox said another reason to train up to the race is that the horse shipped from Kentucky to Louisiana.

“That all plays a role in your decision making,” he said.

Cox hopes to have a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf starter in Believe in Bertie. She was a maiden special weight winner at 1 1/16 miles on turf Aug. 31 at Saratoga in her debut. Cox said Believe in Bertie, who races for Richard and Bertram Klein, is being pointed for the Grade 3, $150,000 Jessamine Stakes on Oct. 7 at Keeneland.

Saritta, who broke from post 12 in winning her two-turn and turf debut Saturday in the $75,000 Happy Ticket Stakes at Louisiana Downs, also is being pointed for the Jessamine, trainer Bret Calhoun said Sunday. She has been shipped from Louisiana Downs to join the trainer’s division at Churchill Downs. Saritta previously was based at Remington Park.

“I was very high on this filly going into the race but hated the 12 hole,” Calhoun said. “I couldn’t have been more happy with the win. I think it was a pretty impressive race.”

Calhoun noted that Saritta overcame a wide trip, and her stakes-winning effort came in just the second start of her career. Saritta’s pedigree pointed her out as a Happy Ticket candidate, said Calhoun. She is a daughter of Indygo Shiner and the Dynaformer mare Hard Lesson and is from the female family of $4.5 million earner Behrens. Saritta was bred by Calumet Farm and races for Maxis Stable.

Calhoun would be pleased to see Saritta develop into a candidate for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf but said the first step is the Jessamine.

“We’ll let her take us to the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “There’s thought about going straight there, [but] it’s too big a jump, and she might not have enough earnings to get in. I think we’ll let her try to take us there.”

The Happy Ticket was one of two stakes wins for Calhoun on Saturday at Louisiana Downs. He also sent out Haunted Heroine to win the $75,000 River Cities. Her next spot is to be determined, Calhoun said, and she shipped Sunday to Churchill Downs.