ELMONT, N.Y. - The path of least resistance did not prove to be the path to victory for Honor Code, who could only manage a third-place finish behind loose-on-the-lead winner Appealing Tale in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Kelso Handicap at sloppy Belmont Park.
Appealing Tale, ridden by Joe Talamo, beat Red Vine by 1 3/4 lengths.
It was another two lengths back to Honor Code, the 3-5 favorite coming off victories in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap and Grade 1 Whitney Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Talco, the winner of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita in June, will miss the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 31 after being diagnosed with a bone chip in a knee, trainer John Sadler said on Saturday.
Talco is scheduled to undergo surgery in the coming days to have the bone chip removed. Sadler said Talco is expected to resume training in the coming months for a 2016 campaign.
“The prognosis is good,” he said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – American Pharoah, the Triple Crown winner, worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds on Saturday at Santa Anita and now will remain there in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland rather than travel on Monday to Churchill Downs, a plan trainer Bob Baffert had been contemplating.
Basically, Baffert wants to leave well enough alone.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Doug O’Neill, owner Paul Reddam, and jockey Mario Gutierrez were already Breeders’ Cup bound with a 2-year-old colt to run in the Juvenile after Nyquist won the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes last week at Santa Anita. Now they have a 2-year-old filly, Gomo, as part of the Breeders’ Cup mix, too.
On Friday, opening day at Keeneland, Gomo pulled off a mild upset in the Grade 1, $400,000 Darley Alcibiades, earning an expenses-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with the Alcibiades being a Win and You’re In Challenge race.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Stormy Lucy, third in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 26, is a candidate for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
Ron Glatt, who assists trainer Ed Moger Jr., said on Thursday that the BC Filly and Mare Turf might be Stormy Lucy’s final start. She is scheduled to be sold at auction in Kentucky in the days after the Breeders’ Cup.
“If everything goes well, that will be the plan,” Glatt said.
The Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland hasn’t produced a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner since 2007, when Nownownow finished second in the Bourbon before winning the inaugural edition of the Breeders’ Cup race at Monmouth Park. The Juvenile Turf has since been dominated by runners prepared in Europe.
Swift Thoroughbreds Inc. will be making a trip to Keeneland. Horatio and Jackie Kemeny and Mark and Naudia Maché, who make up the stable, recently purchased Last Waltz. The 2-year-old Irish-bred filly is coming off a third-place finish in the Group 3 C.L. and M.F. Weld Park Stakes at The Curragh.
They are hoping to run her in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – FallStars Weekend at Keeneland winds down Sunday with yet one more sensational matchup as Untapable and Lovely Maria, the last two Kentucky Oaks winners, clash in the 60th running of the Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Who will ship from California to Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint?
The answer will be clear Sunday at Santa Anita, where the graded stakes winner Taris and the improving allowance filly Unforgettable U race 6 1/2 furlongs in the Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes. Five were entered in the $100,000 filly-and-mare sprint, with ramifications that exceed the grade and purse. Taris is the likely favorite and must deliver a top effort to earn a start in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.
