Aidan O’Brien has started a horse in the Breeders’ Cup Classic 12 times, his best finishes being seconds with Giant’s Causesway in 2000 and Henrythenavigator in 2008, the latter on Santa Anita’s old all-weather main track. Many of those runners, like Duke of Marmalade and Black Minnaloushe, were no-hopers, and we have been conditioned to some extent to treat O’Brien’s dirt Classic attempts with skepticism.
ARCADIA, Calif. – One year ago, the choice for Horse of the Year was settled in the final hour of the Breeders’ Cup. Wise Dan defeated high-class international competition to capture the Mile and establish his supremacy as a grass specialist. When Game On Dude, regarded as the country’s best dirt runner, flopped in the Classic, he handed the sport’s top honor to Wise Dan.
Race 1 |
Live LongshotPURE LOYALTY (#8, 8-1) cuts back from two turns in DelMar Derby and draws well for this downhill event; has been butting heads with many of today’s top contenders in today’s G-2 Twilight Derby and looks to run this group down in the lane.- Chuck Kuehhas
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ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Bill Mott wasn’t sure that Ron the Greek would be able to duplicate his eye-catching performance in the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 28 in Saturday’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.
But he wanted the chance to find out if he could.
Unfortunately, Mott won’t get that chance, as on Thursday, he announced that Ron the Greek would be scratched from the Classic due to a quarter crack in his right front foot.
| Rangi (GB) |
| Gets back in with older while trying the hill for the first time after showing speed through quick splits on the stretchout and surface switch; maybe the cut back to this trip helps and he was ok sprinting on the lawn in England earlier in the year but even on his best a minor award looks to be his ceiling. |
ARCADIA, Calif. – Terry Lanni died a little more than two years ago, but every time Game On Dude runs, he’s still there. Lanni was one of the co-owners of Game On Dude, part of a four-member partnership that was put together by his longtime friend, Bernie Schiappa.
[bc_video_id:309046:]ARCADIA, Calif. – European runners have legitimate chances in four races Saturday, including the $5 million Classic. Santa Anita’s pool-table-top turf course is nothing like any found in Europe, but trial and error has led capable overseas trainers willing to hit the road this late in the European flat season to understand which horses are likely to suit local conditions. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Filly and Mare Turf
ARCADIA, Calif. – As far as the man himself is concerned, he never went away. But to the rest of the Thoroughbred world, 2013 has been the year D. Wayne Lukas stormed back onto racing’s main stage.
He won the Preakness, his first Triple Crown victory in 13 years, with Oxbow. He won the Travers with Will Take Charge. And the faded don of the Breeders’ Cup has returned this fall at Santa Anita with major players in the Classic and the Juvenile, and bit roles in the Sprint, the Turf, and the Juvenile Turf, his keenest Breeders’ Cup presence in more than a decade.
