ARCADIA, Calif. – A few days before Honor A. P. won a maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds at Santa Anita on Sunday, trainer John Shirreffs had a preview of the result when Mike Smith worked the high-class prospect.
“Mike popped him out of the gate, and when he went to pull him up he didn’t want to pull up,” Shirreffs said. “He wanted to go around again.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Eight Rings has behaved in such a positive manner in races and workouts in recent weeks to suggest his antics on Labor Day in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity are behind him.
Eight Rings won the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at 1 1/16 miles by six lengths at Santa Anita on Sept. 27 for his first stakes win. Monday, Eight Rings worked five furlongs in 1:01, moving closer to a start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile here on Nov. 1.
“He looked great,” Baffert said. “He looks happy and healthy. He sat next to a horse and didn’t get rank. He’s not messing around.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – One week after a deliberately slow half-mile work in her return to Santa Anita, Midnight Bisou turned it up a notch early Monday morning.
The early favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Midnight Bisou worked a solid five furlongs in company and answered a key question – how will she handle a surface that is slower than when she last raced at Santa Anita a year and a half ago?
“She likes this track,” jockey Mike Smith said after the workout. “She handled it really good. Not too many do. She just cruised.”
MIAMI – Despite the fact Stormy Embrace won a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint by virtue of her victory in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney earlier this summer at Gulfstream Park, trainer Kathleen O’Connell said she and owner Matt Vuskovich have decided to bypass the event.
Stormy Embrace, a homebred daughter of Circular Quay, has won the Princess Rooney each of the last two years. She finished 11th in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – While most Kentucky-based trainers will wait until a few days before the Breeders’ Cup to have their horses flown to California for the Nov. 1-2 championships at Santa Anita, trainer Dale Romans is opting to send his horses a bit earlier.
Led by Dennis’ Moment, the early favorite for the BC Juvenile, the Romans horses are booked to leave Sunday.
“They’ll work Friday at Churchill,” said Romans. “And they’ll have their last work over the track there at Santa Anita.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Sunday that Pennsylvania Derby winner Math Wizard will make his next start in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 rather than the Dirt Mile, which had also been under consideration for the former claimer.
Math Wizard turned in the first of his three scheduled workouts for the Classic on Sunday morning at Gulfstream Park.
"The Classic for sure," Joseph said a short while after the work. "The owner wants to go to the Classic. He sold some shares in him, and they want to go to the Classic for sure."
ELMONT, N.Y. – With each passing week and as he watches another solid workout, trainer Chad Brown wavers on exactly what to do with Bricks and Mortar. Initially saying he was leaning toward cutting the four-time Grade 1 winner back in distance for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile, Brown said he is now giving serious thought to stretching Bricks and Mortar out to 1 1/2-miles in the $4 million Turf on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Longshot late-runner La Force, who upset Paradise Woods this spring in the Grade 2 Santa Maria at Santa Anita, is a surprising addition to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff field.
Trainer Paddy Gallagher confirmed Sunday morning 5-year-old La Force will be pre-entered in the Distaff, which could be the final start of her career. La Force, 3 for 28 with earnings of $599,151, is entered in the Fasig-Tipton November sale on Nov. 5.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Secret Spice had a target Sunday morning at Santa Anita, and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff contender delivered a sharp half-mile workout as trainer Richard Baltas tries to ration her speed in advance of the $2 million Distaff on Nov. 2.
Working a half-mile at 6:40 a.m., Secret Spice broke off behind a Baltas-trained workmate, went after that rival in the lane, smoked her final quarter-mile in 22.60 seconds on Baltas’s watch, and was given a 47.60 official time by track clockers.
Come Dancing, who figures to be among the top choices in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, worked five furlongs in 1:00.91 Saturday morning over the Belmont Park training track.
With regular rider Javier Castellano at Keeneland, trainer Carlos Martin tabbed Rajiv Maragh to work Come Dancing.
Come Dancing went her first quarter in 25.84 seconds, three furlongs in 37.66 and got his final quarter in 23.25 seconds. She galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.14.
