KEENELAND
Track: Fast
Weather: Raining
Temp: 62
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The clear skies that prevailed throughout the past week gave way to rain on Saturday morning at Keeneland, the change in weather having a major impact on the training schedules of a handful of prospective Breeders’ Cup starters, including Distaff contenders STOPCHARGINGMARIA and I’M A CHATTERBOX along with likely Sprint favorite PRIVATE ZONE.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The standout 2-year-old in California this year has been Songbird, the unbeaten winner of Grade 1 races for fillies at Del Mar and Santa Anita in September.
While the California-based colt Nyquist is unbeaten in four starts, including three stakes wins, one of his rivals, Swipe, at least finished within three-quarters of a length of him in the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes on Sept. 26.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Tonalist, the two-time Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, and 10 horses from trainer Chad Brown’s stable led a flurry of Breeders’ Cup workers Saturday morning at Belmont Park.
A total of 15 horses with designs on getting into a Breeders’ Cup race had published workouts on one of three surfaces at Belmont on a cool, partly sunny fall morning.
Tonalist, preparing for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, led off the morning, working five furlongs in 1:00.41 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.17 and pulling up seven-eighths in 1:29.36.
The connections of horses who pre-entered two oversubscribed Breeders’ Cup races were given a couple of extra days, until Monday, to declare their preference. Siding Spring lended trainer Mark Casse a hand ahead of that deadline with an impressive work at Churchill Downs that had the trainer giving the nod to the Juvenile over the Juvenile Turf.
:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2015: Pre-entered horses, odds, comments, and videos
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Friday proved to be the busiest morning yet at Keeneland for Breeders’ Cup workers, with a logjam after the renovation break caused in part by a forecast that calls for possible showers beginning around mid-morning Saturday and continuing over the next couple days.
Though his connections listed the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday as his first preference, Isotherm will be entered Monday for Saturday’s $2 million Juvenile on the dirt, trainer George Weaver said Friday.
Isotherm is 2 for 2 on turf, including a victory Sept. 26 in the Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park. He finished fourth in his only dirt start, a six-furlong race at Saratoga.
Holy Lute, who was listed in pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint but was meant for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, has been moved to the list of pre-entries for the Turf Sprint, according to both the horse’s connections and an official with Breeders’ Cup. The Grade 1, $1 million Turf Sprint will be run Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Final entries for the race will be drawn Monday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – It appears as though trainer Linda Rice is going to sit out the Breeders’ Cup.
Rice had pre-entered both La Verdad and Palace to Breeders’ Cup races next weekend, but said Friday that she intended to run both in stakes races at Belmont Park this Saturday instead.
Frosted and Hard Aces, who will try to pull off an upset in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland, both turned in their final Breeders’ Cup works on Friday, a day when Beholder had a good day both on the track and off at Keeneland.
Frosted has been training in Saratoga at the private Greentree facility owned by Sheikh Mohammed. On Friday, he went a half-mile in 47 seconds, with a final quarter in 23.80, and galloped out five furlongs in 59.20, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Dave Norton.
With some horsemen wanting more time to ponder their options with cross-entered horses for Breeders’ Cup races, officials have decided to give them until entry time at 10 a.m. Eastern on Monday to finalize which race they are going to choose, said Josh Christian, director of racing for the Breeders’ Cup.
Breeders’ Cup officials had intended to have the connections of these horses decide by midday Friday, a change in procedure from past years.
