ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Steve Asmussen has sent six horses to California, all for the Breeders’ Cup, and on Sunday morning at Santa Anita, he worked the best of them, Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable -- who is preparing for the Distaff -- as well as Tapiture, who will go in either the Dirt Mile or the Classic.
Both worked five furlongs, both went solo, and both had exercise rider Carlos Rosas aboard.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Moulin de Mougin, the winner of the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes in August but who went down in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes on Sept. 27, will miss the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.
Trainer Richard Mandella told Santa Anita’s publicity department that the 4-year-old Moulin de Mougin emerged from the spill with bone bruising in a stifle and shoulder. She will be pointed for a 2015 campaign.
“We did a nuclear scan two days ago and it showed bone bruising,” Mandella said on Saturday.
CYPRESS, Calif. – California Chrome, the Kentucky Derby winner, continued his encouraging training regimen on Saturday when he worked five furlongs here at Los Alamitos in 59.60 seconds, a drill that had both trainer Art Sherman and jockey Victor Espinoza believing he was headed in the right direction for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic three weeks away at Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Candy Boy and Sweet Swap, two of trainer John Sadler’s hopes for Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 1, worked at Santa Anita on Saturday.
Candy Boy, a candidate for the BC Classic, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80. Sadler timed the 3-year-old Candy Boy galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.40. Candy Boy has had two workouts since finishing third in the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 20. Candy Boy worked a half-mile in 47.80 seconds on Oct. 4.
“He looked good last week and this week,” Sadler said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainers Kathy Ritvo and Carlo Vaccarezza were all smiles after watching their respective Breeders’ Cup candidates Fast Anna and Little Alexis work over a very quick main track Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Top Kisser, the winner of the L.A. Woman Stakes on Oct. 4, is scheduled to make her next start in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Friday.
Top Kisser has won 7 of 14 starts and $407,100. The Grade 3 L.A. Woman Stakes was her third stakes win but her first in a graded stakes.
The BC Filly and Mare Sprint is run over seven furlongs. The L.A. Woman Stakes was run over 6 1/2 furlongs.
“The distance looks like it will be ideal,” Hollendorfer said of the Breeders’ Cup.
Rainha Da Bateria earned an expenses-paid berth in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with a win in the Grade 3 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland on Wednesday. The Jessamine was the last Win and You’re In race for the Juvenile Fillies Turf, and trainer Graham Motion said Rainha Da Bateria would be shipped from Keeneland to Santa Anita next week to begin final preparations for the one-mile race Oct. 31.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rainha De Bateria rallied from last to earn her way to the Breeders’ Cup with a 1 1/2-length triumph Wednesday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Jessamine Stakes on the Keeneland turf.
After Joel Rosario sat chilly while Cool Comfort sped away to a huge lead down the backstretch, Rainha De Bateria proceeded to pass all seven of her opponents in securing a Win and You’re In berth to the Oct. 31 BC Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita.
Among a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile field that will include a $1.6 million purchase and several others who brought six figures at auction, there is Texas Red, a son of Afleet Alex who sold for a mere $17,000.
Keith Desormeaux, the trainer and part-owner of Texas Red, doesn’t really know why. He thinks it’s the horse’s modest pedigree, noting that Afleet Alex has been “cold” at stud, and the dam is a Chilean-bred mare, Ramatuelle, whose four other foals have not done much.
Otherwise, Texas Red is “a physical masterpiece,” Desormeaux said.
