OKLAHOMA CITY – The champion Champagne Room was bright and alert Monday, the morning after her win in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks, and she could be headed next to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Trainer Peter Eurton said Monday the Nov. 3 race at Del Mar is strong possibility for Champagne Room, who won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She also had been under consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Rodrigo Ubillo said it will be “a dream” to participate in this year’s Breeders’ Cup with Highway Star, who earned her shot in the Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 4 with a neck victory in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap.
In reality, Highway Star earned her Breeders’ Cup chance before Sunday, but her connections wanted to see another good performance before committing to run. Highway Star wore down Carina Mia by a neck for her third graded stakes victory of the year to go along with a head loss to By the Moon in the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 26 at Saratoga.
Cambodia swept the two Grade 2 stakes for fillies and mares on turf at Del Mar’s summer meeting. She will be pointed to a third stakes win at the track’s autumn meeting in either the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1 1/8 miles or the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at a mile on turf. Both races are run Nov. 4.
“We’re considering the Breeders’ Cup because she loves Del Mar so much,” owner Don Robinson said. “She seems to be a California girl, and the options are out there.”
Robinson said plans will be finalized after conferring with trainer Tom Proctor.
DEL MAR, Calif. – A track next to the ocean in a tony suburban community hardly seems the place for an old-fashioned Western shootout. That’s supposed to take place in some dusty town, where the people and the liquor are hard.
But this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic is shaping up as a showdown for Horse of the Year, with Arrogate, Collected, and Gun Runner all pointing to the race, each with a legitimate shot at the year-end title. Ready. Aim. Fire your best shot.
By the time the Breeders’ Cup comes around, it’s hard to find a horse running at 100 percent.
The wear and tear of a long campaign rarely comes without some time off for a nagging issue or to freshen up from a long trip or dull effort. Missing time due to a hurricane, though, is one box most Breeders’ Cup contenders aren’t able to check.
Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint contender Pay Any Price rode out Hurricane Irma in the barn of trainer Ralph Ziadie at Gulfstream Park West, the former Calder Race Course, in South Florida.
There are still three Win and You’re In Challenge races to be decided before the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 4. But barring an unforeseen change of heart from trainers Bob Baffert, Chad Summers or Luis Carvajal Jr., leading contenders Drefong, Mind Your Biscuits, and Imperial Hint will not participate in any of those preps. All three are on schedule to simply train up to the six-furlong Sprint.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Breeders’ Cup prep season ended sooner this year for Stellar Wind and Forever Unbridled, the 5-year-old mares aiming for another shot at the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff Nov. 3 at Del Mar.
The early favorites for the Distaff, they will enter with unconventional campaigns. Who needs a prep race? Stellar Wind and Forever Unbridled do not.
Stellar Wind’s most recent start was July 30. She will enter the Distaff following a 97-day layoff. No problem.
The West Coast-based contingent for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 3 at Del Mar is led by Mor Spirit and Accelerate. The East Coast’s best hope could emerge Saturday in the Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park.
In each of the last two years, New York trainer Chad Brown has had multiple starters in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf. Each time, Brown had a runner finish in the top three behind a winner trained by Aidan O’Brien of Ireland.
Brown’s objective for this year’s $4 million BC Turf on Nov. 4 at Del Mar is to reverse the storyline. His stable arguably has the best chance for an American-based winner, but once again is expected to face a formidable group of European imports.
Midnight Storm is likely to run in a one-mile race during the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 3-4 at Del Mar. A start in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on dirt Sept. 30 at Santa Anita could determine whether the BC Dirt Mile or BC Mile on turf is chosen for the seven-time stakes winner.
