ARCADIA, Calif. – Catapult and Collected worked minutes before dawn at Santa Anita on Sunday in advance of scheduled starts in Breeders’ Cup races on Saturday, although Collected is not certain of a berth in the BC Classic.
Catapult, bound for the BC Mile, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20, the fastest of 71 works at the distance. Trainer John Sadler described the work as “sharp.”
Churchill Downs, Oct. 28
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 45
Track: Fast
Turf: Good
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The action picked up considerably on the Breeders’ Cup front Sunday at Churchill Downs, the large work tab due in part to the inclement weather that affected the track surface the previous two mornings. A total of 20 prospective Breeders’ Cup starters worked throughout the morning, beginning at 5:15 a.m. and ending nearly five hours later with a trio of breezers on the grass.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Accelerate, McKinzie, and West Coast, three of the leading contenders in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs, all could not have looked better in their final drills for the race on Saturday morning at Santa Anita.
They were three of 11 locally based horses who are scheduled to run in Breeders’ Cup races next weekend who worked on Saturday.
Glorious Empire, the multiple graded stakes-winning 7-year-old gelding, completed preparations for next Saturday’s $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs by working seven furlongs in 1:27.60 over the synthetic surface at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland on Saturday morning.
Trainer James “Chucky” Lawrence II said he caught Glorious Empire’s final eighth in 11.80 seconds. It was Glorious Empire’s sixth workout of six furlongs or longer since he won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer on Aug. 25 at Saratoga.
Lone Sailor will run in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs, trainer Tom Amoss said Saturday, a decision that has major implications regarding the prospective field.
As a result, Seeking the Soul remains the bubble horse, ranked 15th, assuming that City of Light - as expected - goes in the Dirt Mile. City of Light was pre-entered in both races, with the Dirt Mile preferred.
The Classic field has a maximum of 14 runners. Collected needs two defections to get in. Entries are taken Monday, and posts drawn that afternoon.
LOUISVILLE, KY. – Cold, damp, and dreary.
That pretty much sums up training hours Friday morning at Churchill Downs, where a steady drizzle made the unseasonably cool temperature feel even cooler. The main track was eventually downgraded from good to sloppy, and the turf course was listed as yielding when opened for business at 9:45 a.m.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Its Gonna Hurt, winner of the Speakeasy Stakes earlier this month at Santa Anita, will miss the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Friday because of a suspensory injury.
Trainer Brian Koriner said the injury was diagnosed on Friday after Its Gonna Hurt was found to have inflammation in a leg. The injury will keep Its Gonna Hurt out of training for four to six months, Koriner said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – With a nor’easter forecast for Saturday, Friday became an extremely busy morning at Belmont Park, with 24 horses pre-entered for Breeders’ Cup races putting in workouts over three different tracks.
Trainer Chad Brown moved up scheduled weekend workouts for 11 horses, including eight who worked over the inner turf course. Five of the eight are pre-entered in the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf, led by three-time Grade 1 winner Sistercharlie and recent Grade 1 winners Fourstar Crook and A Raving Beauty.
In 1988 at Churchill Downs, 41-year-old Freddie Head, stirrups set short, white jockey’s cap bobbing up and down like a buoy in choppy waters, cruised down the turf-course homestretch on Miesque, who won the Breeders’ Cup Mile for the second year in a row, the first repeat winner in Breeders’ Cup history.
In 2010 at Churchill Downs, Head watched from the stands as Goldikova, the best horse he ever has trained, skittered around the same course and won the Mile for the third year in a row, the first horse to win three Breeders’ Cup races.
