ELMONT, N.Y. – Last year, Royal Delta suffered only two defeats in North America. Trainer Todd Pletcher was responsible for both of them.
Saturday, Pletcher will go for a hat trick of sorts when he sends out Princess of Sylmar, the leading 3-year-old filly in the country, against two-time champion Royal Delta in the Grade 1, $400,000 Beldame Invitational at Belmont Park.
Following a solid performance in the Pacific Classic Stakes, Richard’s Kid could have been considered a flight risk to try the Breeders’ Cup Classic instead of testing the Marathon.
The division’s de facto leader, Richard’s Kid will indeed pass on the Marathon, but instead of the Classic, the horse’s next stop will be the breeding shed. The 8-year-old Richard’s Kid was retired on Tuesday after he was found to have sustained a slight tendon tear.
ARCADIA, Calif. – New paint and a spiffy remodel are among the fresh improvements at Santa Anita, which begins its autumn meet Friday.
But freshness also comes on four legs, and the principal entrants in the Grade 3 Eddie D Stakes are certainly fresh.
Caracortado has not started in nearly 21 months, Snowday has raced just once in 11 months, and Unbridled’s Note has been off almost five months. Layoffs aside, another shared trait is all are good horses qualified to win on opening day.
If things go well over the next couple of weeks, trainer Doug O’Neill will have himself two starters in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Private Zone and Goldencents. O’Neill won the Sprint with Thor’s Echo in 2006.
ELMONT, N.Y. – By virtue of his victory in the Whitney Invitational, Cross Traffic earned a fees-paid berth into the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. In Saturday’s $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, Cross Traffic must prove that’s the race in which he belongs.
Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher are perennially the most successful trainers with 2-year-olds, and rarely does talk about the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile not include either or both. The two have combined to win four runnings of the Juvenile, three of the last five.
The prospects of either trainers’ participation in this year’s $2 million Juvenile, to be run Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, will hinge on the key final preps to be run the next two weekends.
It really isn’t that surprising that a horse based in California hasn’t won the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. First off, there are no Win and You’re In races in California for the Juvenile Turf and there aren’t any graded turf races for 2-year-olds leading up to the race.
The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint has only a five-year history, brief in comparison to some of the bigger Breeders’ Cup races. But a noticeable trend has still surfaced in the three Turf Sprints that were run over the about 6 1/2-furlong downhill course at Santa Anita. Prior success on the unique downhill course seemed a major advantage in these Turf Sprints, something to keep in mind with the event to be run at Santa Anita again on Nov. 2.
For much of September there were few developments leading up to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, with most of the leading contenders training but not racing.
Saturday things finally get interesting with a pair of Grade 1, Win and You’re In races, the Flower Bowl at Belmont and the Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita, which collectively drew the cream of the older U.S.-based fillies and mares being pointing for the 1 1/4-mile Filly and Mare Turf to be run at Santa Anita Nov. 2.
Princess of Sylmar gets her first dose of Royal Delta on Saturday.
Once might be enough.
Though it’s unlikely Princess of Sylmar would be nominated for $100,000 to the Breeders’ Cup, Todd Pletcher and owner Ed Stanco will wait until after the Beldame Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park before deciding if she has done enough for one year.
