It’s a familiar story that Godolphin Racing hopes has a different ending.
In 2019, the Godolphin-owned Maxfield followed a debut win at Churchill Downs in September with an authoritative victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland in October. He was the 3-1 third choice on the morning line for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita only to be scratched two days before the race due to injury.
Lady Speightspeare, the undefeated winner of the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes on Sept. 20 at Woodbine, will miss the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 6 at Keeneland after recently being diagnosed with a knee injury.
The setback is expected to keep Lady Speightspeare out of training until the winter, trainer Roger Attfield said Wednesday.
“It’s kind of disappointing,” Attfield said. “I have had to stop on her and give her a little bit of time. We’re not going to make it.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Franklin County Stakes should provide a critical test in the unusual career of Got Stormy, the Grade 1-winning mare who’s being transformed from miler to sprinter.
“This should show us a lot ahead of the Breeders’ Cup,” said Mark Casse, who trains Got Stormy for Gary Barber.
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Talk about an unlikely showdown in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff – a champion who was sidelined for a year and a half facing the winner of the Preakness Stakes.
Huh?
Monomoy Girl already has produced the greatest comeback of 2020, winning all three of her starts with sights on a repeat in the Distaff. She won the race in 2018, then disappeared. This year, Monomoy Girl is back, better than ever, and 2-1 favorite according to Daily Racing Form.
There may be little certainty about whether division leaders Vekoma and Complexity will run in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint or the Dirt Mile, but there has never been any doubt over the past several years as to exactly what Whitmore will be doing on Breeders’ Cup Day.
It’s a quarter-mile longer than the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, a quarter-mile shorter than the BC Classic, and when it’s run at Keeneland, it’s not even one full lap around the main track. That makes the $1 million Dirt Mile, to be run Nov. 7, a fit for horses stretching out from one-turn races or shortening up from Triple Crown endeavors. This year, several Dirt Mile candidates figure to be cross-entered when pre-entries are due Oct. 26, keeping the prospective field in flux for now.
Leinster made his eighth start of 2019 in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita and finished seventh. The 5-year-old’s objective for 2020 has been a return to that race, this renewal hosted at Keeneland, where he is based with trainer Rusty Arnold. And 2020 has been a year like no other.
The Grade 1 Frizette ought to give a little more clarity to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies when it is run Sunday at Belmont Park, although it seems unlikely that any of the handful of BC hopefuls in the lineup will ultimately challenge the likes of Princess Noor and Simply Ravishing for favoritism at Keeneland.
Through its first 11 runnings, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint had not been won by a 3-year-old, even with sophomore stars such as Unique Bella (2017), Carina Mia (2016), Turbulent Descent (2011), Champagne d’Oro (2010), and Indian Blessing (2008) having gone favored.
A California appeals court has overturned a decision by the California Horse Racing Board that required a horse owner to pay mount fees to two jockeys after one of the riders was replaced in the run-up to a $2 million stakes race.
The California Second District Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the owner, Charles Fipke, was not required to pay both jockeys a share of the purse from the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Distaff unless the replaced rider was removed after scratch time.
