LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Raven Run Stakes isn’t normally a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, although Shamrock Rose did defy the odds in sweeping both races last year at 18-1 and 25-1.
Nobody is expecting another lightning strike this year. With just two weeks between the races, only the most unusual of circumstances would move the Raven Run winner along to Santa Anita for a quick wheel-back in the Nov. 2 Filly and Mare Sprint.
A second-place finish in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Oct. 5 marked the sixth consecutive race in which Channel Maker has finished in the first four of a Grade 1 or Grade 2 race since early March. The consistent streak is enough for trainer Bill Mott to start Channel Maker in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
Channel Maker was beaten a half-length by Arklow in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. Channel Maker led in the stretch, but could not sustain the advantage. Mott said earlier this week he considered the result to be a positive.
The list of candidates for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita has been a fast-changing group in the last week.
With the prep races completed, decision time has arrived. The people behind Ask Bailey, Jazzique, Mind Out, Powerful Breeze, and Witek said their runners would pass the one-mile turf race.
Jockey Florent Geroux, injured in an accident during training hours Sunday morning at Keeneland, is still hopeful of riding in the Breeders’ Cup in 2 1/2 weeks, with his most prominent mount being Owendale in the $6 million Classic on Nov. 2.
Geroux suffered a fractured sternum when thrown from Air Strike while completing a workout Sunday morning. On Wednesday, Geroux saw a specialist in Kentucky, and, according to Geroux’s agent, Doug Bredar, the “doctor liked what he saw.”
Pee Wee Reese, who returned from a layoff to win the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes last month at Santa Anita, faces his final hurdle this weekend as owner-breeder Nick Alexander prepares to write a big check in order to start him in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
Tucked away in relative anonymity at Monmouth Park, trainer Luis Carvajal Jr. has tried to pay little attention to all the recent talk and speculation about who may or may not be running in this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint. What Carvajal does know for certain is that he’s sending Imperial Hint back to the Sprint for the third consecutive year while he’s doing as well as ever – maybe better than ever.
Castle Lady, the Irish-bred filly who finished second to Cambier Parc in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Keeneland last Saturday, will run back in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, trainer Henri-Alex Pantall confirmed Wednesday.
Castle Lady saved all the ground in the Queen Elizabeth, and in the stretch made a menacing run at Cambier Parc, who held her at bay late. Cambier Parc is not running in the Breeders’ Cup.
Mike Smith, the leading rider in Breeders’ Cup history in wins and money won, will ride Scabbard in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, trainer Eddie Kenneally said Wednesday.
Kenneally mentioned that owner Joe Sutton opted for Smith “and we’re absolutely delighted to have him,” Kenneally said.
“He’s the leading rider in the series, plus it’s his home track,” he said.
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Alandra, third in the Alcibiades at Keeneland, and Frank’s Rockette, runner-up in the Frizette at Belmont, both will bypass the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, which is increasingly looking as though it will have one of its smallest fields in the past two decades.
Ireland-based trainer Aidan O’Brien has won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf four times in the race’s 12-year history and will be a formidable presence again in this year’s renewal at Santa Anita.
