Santa Anita
Wednesday, Nov. 1
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 54
Track: Fast
Turf: Firm
ARCADIA, Calif. – As odd as it may seem, a routine visit to the starting gate likely provided the biggest story during training hours Wednesday morning at Santa Anita, as Dubai World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro returned to the blocks for a second time after a less than encouraging experience there 48 hours earlier.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A high-profile group of breeders, trainers, owners, and other participants in racing have pledged a portion of their earnings from Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday in support of Stand Up to Jewish Hate, an organization devoted to raising awareness of anti-Semitism.
The group is led by Gary Barber and Aron Wellman, two of the sport’s high-profile owners. Barber’s pink silks are prevalent nationwide on horses in major stakes. Wellman is the president of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, an ownership syndicate that races across the country.
Touchuponastar will be looking for his first win against open company Friday night when the standout Louisiana-bred faces a host of invaders in the $100,000 Delta Downs Mile.
The race for 3-year-olds and up will share a card with its counterpart for fillies and mares, the $100,000 Treasure Chest.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Go With Gusto is entered in two turf races on Friday at Santa Anita – the $150,000 Qatar Golden Mile in the first race and the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at a mile about four hours later.
Go With Gusto is assured of a start in the Golden Mile, but is on the also-eligible list for the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Go With Gusto was not selected for the Juvenile Fillies Turf when pre-entries were taken in late October. She is the first alternate should a late scratch occur.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Victoria’s Chief tries a new lower class level off a layoff in Friday’s seventh race going 1 1/16 miles at Woodbine. Is it a dicey drop? Could the 3-year-old be taking an edge? How does he run when fresh? Those are some of the questions handicappers should ponder when sizing up his changes in this $25,000 nonwinners-of-two claimer.
The list of runner-up finishes in stakes for 3-year-olds run in New York this year for trainer Brad Cox is as impressive as it most assuredly is frustrating.
Cox’s 3-year-olds have finished second in races like the H. Allen Jerkens (Verifying), Jim Dandy and Dwyer (Saudi Crown), Wood Memorial and Gotham (Slip Mahoney), and the Gold Fever (Squire Creek). This all after Hit Show won the Grade 3 Withers for Cox in February.
Time Passage has mastered two turns on Tapeta and on Friday will be looking to win her fourth straight race at the trip in the $65,000 Cellars Shiraz at Gulfstream Park.
The race shares a card with the $65,000 Our Dear Peggy, which drew a Breeders’ Cup pre-entrant in Bubbly Champagne.
The Cellars Shiraz is a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies on Tapeta. The field of seven includes local runners Flakes, winner of the Game Face in June, and Coco, winner of an overnight handicap against older rivals in August.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Tuesday morning outside the international quarantine facility tucked into the northwest corner of the Santa Anita backstretch, the great English photographer Edward Whitaker watched a couple European horses walk through the chain-link fence gate and down toward the racetrack for their first morning training since arriving Saturday night in America. Whitaker has been working Breeders’ Cups for decades.
“This is the best group of European horses that have ever come,” he said.
Anecdotal? Sure. Accurate? Possible and to be determined this weekend.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Late on Sunday morning at Santa Anita, War Like Goddess bounced off the track in the manner of a frisky 2-year-old more than a 6-year-old mare with eight stakes wins. It was not the first time she displayed such enthusiasm.
“She’s a little bit of a challenge to train,” trainer Bill Mott said over the weekend. “She wants to be a strong galloper.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – The first 10 months of her training career were challenging. The last five months have been exhilarating.
The career trajectory for Cherie DeVaux over the last six years is impressive, albeit hardly surprising. An assistant to Chad Brown for nearly eight years, DeVaux ventured out on her own in 2018 with no horses and mainly the support of her husband, bloodstock agent David Ingordo.
