ELMONT, N.Y. – A year ago at this time, Sistercharlie was nursing a bruised hind foot that forced her to miss the Flower Bowl and made her bid for victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf a bit more challenging.
Sistercharlie overcame a near three-month layoff to capture the Filly and Mare Turf and clinch an Eclipse Award as the female champion turf horse in North America.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mitole, widely regarded as the leading contender for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2, had his first major exercise at Santa Anita on Friday.
Mitole worked an easy half-mile in 50.60 seconds with minimal urging in the final furlong.
“That’s about as slow as you can go with him,” said Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. “It was his first time over a new track.”
Mitole, a 4-year-old colt owned by William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, galloped out five furlongs in 1:04, Blasi said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Twelve 3-year-old turf fillies have been invited to the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, which will be run next Saturday as the highlight of the coming weekend at Keeneland.
Chad Brown has three of the invitees, all of whom will be among the favorites for the 36th running of the 1 1/8-mile QE II, the sixth and last Grade 1 of the fall meet. The Brown fillies are Cafe Americano, Cambier Parc, and Regal Glory.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Encoder is an undefeated stakes winner after two races, fine credentials for the start of his career. On Sunday at Santa Anita – and perhaps on Nov. 1 – Encoder must continue to prove his relevance in the 2-year-old turf division.
Encoder will be favored to win Sunday’s $100,000 Zuma Beach Stakes at a mile on turf, the leading prep in Southern California for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at a mile here on Nov. 1. For now, Encoder is the local division leader, a status trainer John Sadler does not expect will change this weekend.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Wesley Ward has become synonymous with fast young horses, not to mention a devil-may-care attitude as to where and against whom they run.
Ward essentially popularized the trend of American trainers sending horses to Royal Ascot in June, just as he dismisses the widely held notion that fillies should avoid competing against their male counterparts.
“I’ve always thought fillies tend to develop faster than colts, at least early in their careers,” said Ward.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Walker Hancock has no special recollections of Spinsters past – only the knowledge that what happens here Sunday at Keeneland is a very big deal.
“Its history and prestige is about as good as it gets,” said Hancock, the Claiborne Farm president whose family will be represented by Elate, the solid favorite in the 64th running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Spinster Stakes. “It’s a marquee race, that’s for sure.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Sistercharlie, the reigning female turf champion and a winner of five consecutive Grade 1 races, will be heavily favored to make it six in a row when she heads a field of seven entered Thursday for Sunday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Flower Bowl, a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.
Sistercharlie will be making just her third start of the year after winning both the Diana and Beverly D. She will break from post 2 under John Velazquez.
ELMONT, N.Y. – On a wet, gloomy Thursday morning on Long Island, Come Dancing returned to the work tab, breezing a half-mile in 49.94 seconds over a good Belmont Park training track. Come Dancing, winner of four graded stakes this year including the Grade 1 Ballerina, is pointing to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.
Trainer Carlos Martin wanted Javier Castellano to work Come Dancing, so he decided to move the work up to Thursday as Castellano is scheduled to be at Keeneland on Friday and Saturday.
