Bob Baffert said he is happy with how Book Review is training toward the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and with his plan for having 10 weeks between starts for the 4-year-old filly.
“She runs well fresh, and that’s pretty much the way I want her for this,” Baffert said this week from Santa Anita in California, where the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint will be run Nov. 2.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Three-year-olds Broadway Empire and Holy Lute will be pre-entered for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, run at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, their trainers said Tuesday.
Broadway Empire, trained by Robertino Diodoro, won the Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park on Sept. 29 for his third consecutive stakes win, Broadway Empire will make his first start against older horses in the BC Dirt Mile. He would be the first Breeders’ Cup starter for Diodoro and jockey Rico Walcott.
The workout objectives for some of the top Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies contenders will differ in the three weeks leading up to the Grade 1, $2 million race at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
For the undefeated Artemis Agrotera, who won the Grade 1, $500,000 Frizette last Saturday at Belmont Park, it will be all about maintenance.
“I don’t think I’ll be doing a lot of serious works with her, probably just two works between now and the race,” said trainer Mike Hushion. “She puts a lot into anything she does. I want to just maintain where she is right now.”
The field for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf seemed close to being set before being thrown a big curve, one that directly affects the $2 million BC Juvenile Fillies.
That’s because the talented filly My Conquestadory showed so much ability in her win in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland that the filly once thought destined for the Juvenile Fillies Turf may run in the Juvenile Fillies.
As if there wasn’t enough speed already signed on for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, look out, because more may be on the way.
Owner Ahmed Zayat said earlier this week that Fast Bullet, who finished sixth after prompting the pace in last year’s Sprint, is a good bet to try again after working five furlongs in 1:01.50 Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs. He would join a field that will include front-runners Sum of the Parts and Private Zone, Gentlemen’s Bet, and possibly both Distinctiv Passion and defending champion Trinniberg.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Nesso, second to Clenor in Sunday’s Surfer Girl Stakes, will give trainer Vann Belvoir his first Breeders’ Cup runner in the $1 million BC Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1.
A former jockey and leading trainer in Washington, Belvoir, 39, said Nesso earned a spot in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf for her effort in Sunday’s race and a second to Clenor in the Oak Tree Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar on Sept. 2.
“I think we’ll take a shot at it,” he said. “It will be exciting.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Early November plans for Aotearoa, upset winner of the Zuma Beach Stakes for 2-year-olds on turf last Sunday, will be confirmed after a main-track workout at Santa Anita later this month.
Trainer Leonard Powell said Tuesday that Aotearoa will work on dirt at Santa Anita on the weekend of Oct. 19-20 before he and owner Paul Viskovich decide between the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf or the $200,000 Golden State Juvenile for California-breds over a mile on dirt. Both races are Nov. 1.
Three of the leading contenders for this year’s $5 million Breeders’ Classic worked at two different tracks on Tuesday morning, with Game On Dude tuning up at Santa Anita, site of the Breeders’ Cup, while Fort Larned and Will Take Charge got their work in at Churchill Downs.
Game On Dude was timed in 50.60 seconds for a half-mile, with regular work rider Martin Garcia aboard. Mike Smith has the mount in the Classic on Nov. 2. Bob Baffert, who trains Game On Dude, said he wanted an easy work this week, and that he’d “start cranking on him next week.”
Make no mistake: Wise Dan remains the favorite and most likely winner of the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Mile, but his aura of invincibility faded Saturday at Keeneland, where waves of heavy rain turned the Shadwell Turf Mile into the Shadwell Polytrack Mile, and Wise Dan gave futile chase behind pace-setting Silver Max and had to settle for second in a race that retained its Grade 1 status despite the surface switch.
