It was only 38 degrees when Royal Delta walked onto the Belmont Park main track shortly before 7 a.m. Saturday. The two-time champion mare warmed things up in a hurry.
In her final workout before she attempts an unprecedented three-peat in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita – and maybe the final work of her magnificent career – Royal Delta blazed four furlongs in 46.52 seconds.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Half the horses expected to be entered Monday in this coming Saturday’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic recorded workouts Saturday, a day when the field was narrowed from 13 to 12 by the defection of Graydar to the Dirt Mile.
At Santa Anita, Moreno, Mucho Macho Man, and Will Take Charge all recorded drills, with those of Moreno and Mucho Macho Man delayed by the tragic death of the sprinter Points Offthebench. At Belmont Park, Last Gunfighter and Ron the Greek worked, while Flat Out drilled at Saratoga.
ARCADIA, Calif. – An absolute pall was cast Saturday morning at Santa Anita when the star sprinter Points Offthebench suffered a catastrophic injury near the sixteenth pole on the main track when going through what was supposed to be his final workout toward the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
ELMONT, N.Y. – There has been a change of plans for Graydar, and there most likely will be a change in the way handicappers perceive his chances in the Breeders’ Cup. Graydar will run in the $1 million Dirt Mile on Friday at Santa Anita and not in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday, as originally planned, trainer Todd Pletcher said Saturday.
Close Hatches will have her own piece of history on her side as she faces two-time defending winner Royal Delta and championship contender Princess of Sylmar in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
The Juddmonte Farms homebred, the winner of the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes and Cotillion Stakes by open lengths, hails from one of the most influential families in the three-decade history of the Breeders’ Cup, via her fourth dam, Best in Show. The prolific mare already has been represented by five descendants who have won or placed in Breeders’ Cup races.
The Breeders’ Cup has launched a promotion that will allow people to try to select the complete order of finish in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Classic for a prize of up to $1 million.
The contest requires participants to register online and make their selection for the final order of finish by post time of the Classic, scheduled for 8:35 p.m. Eastern. If a contest participant picks the complete correct order, he will receive $1 million, paid as an annuity of $25,000 each year for 40 years, according to the rules of the contest.
Although the Kentucky Derby – and to a lesser extent the Preakness and Belmont – might enjoy more widespread popularity and recognition among the sporting public, the Breeders’ Cup represents the highest-quality racing on the North American continent each year. As such, it is both entirely predictable and entirely fitting that cumulative Breeders’ Cup results over its 29-year history reflect the distribution and evolution of major American and international sire lines.
Pants On Fire, one of the many viable contenders in a wide-open renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, had his final prerace work when going a half-mile Friday in 48 seconds at his Monmouth Park base.
“I caught him going out five-eighths in a minute flat,” trainer Kelly Breen said. “He did everything the right way. I’m very happy with him.”
Pants On Fire has really come to hand in his last two starts, winning the Grade 2 Monmouth Cup and the Grade 3 Ack Ack at Churchill Downs. The 5-year-old horse is booked on a Sunday charter to California.
Dance to Bristol, the pride of the Bowie training center in Maryland, had her final workout toward the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint when speeding five furlongs Friday in 58.60 seconds.
With trainer Ollie Figgins III watching, Xavier Perez, who has ridden Dance to Bristol in her last eight races – winning all but the most recent one – was aboard for the drill. The 4-year-old Speightstown filly was scheduled to be flown Saturday to California.
Grandeur, pre-entered for the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 2, did not have an ideal journey from England this week, casting doubt on his participation in America’s richest turf race.
In a brief phone conversation Friday, trainer Jeremy Noseda did not go into detail about Grandeur’s condition. Grandeur arrived from England late Wednesday and remained in quarantine Friday morning.
“At this moment, we have a few issues,” Noseda said. “Time will tell where we are. I’m dealing with the Breeders’ Cup.”
