Amazombie, the champion sprinter of 2011, will have as many as six rivals in Saturday’s $250,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship, a key prep for the Breeders' Cup Sprint on Nov. 3.
The Santa Anita Sprint Championship is run over six furlongs and is part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program, offering a fees-paid berth to the winner, if nominated to the program.
This weekend, Chamberlain Bridge will run in Keeneland’s Woodford Stakes, a race that, for some, will serve as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. For Chamberlain Bridge, however, a trip to Santa Anita may not be in the cards, regardless of his effort on Saturday.
The participation of the longshot Casino Host in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 3 depends on his condition in coming weeks, trainer Ron Ellis said Wednesday.
Casino Host was vanned off after a fifth-place finish behind Slim Shadey in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita last Sunday. A subsequent nuclear scan revealed a minor strain in one of Casino Host’s shoulders, Ellis said.
[BREEDERS' CUP 2012: DRF top 10 lists, video replays, latest news]
Still basking in the glow of three stakes wins Saturday, trainer Bob Baffert expressed confidence that Contested will not need a prep race in order to bring her “A” game to the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint, which has been shifted to the Saturday, Nov. 3, program this year.
Contested is a perfect 5 for 5 on fast dirt tracks, including her seasonal bow at Santa Anita off a layoff and Grade 1 wins in the Acorn and Test. The Test victory came off a two-month break following a last-place finish when she raced on a dead rail in the Mother Goose.
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series spans 10 countries and includes 73 races that qualify the winner for an automatic berth into a corresponding Breeders’ Cup race. Of those 73 races, only two are designated as qualifiers for entry into the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Marathon – the Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing and the General Belgrano, a Grade 2 race contested over 1 9/16 miles in Argentina.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Saratoga or Del Mar? That’s a win-win argument for summer. But what about Keeneland in the spring or Keeneland in the fall?
Can’t lose there, either.
Six months after the budding greenery of April drew them out from a long winter, now comes the rustic beauty of October to get racing fans pumped up. This rite of Kentucky autumn is tied inextricably to top-shelf racing, as once again the rich FallStars Weekend will put an immediate sense of urgency into a 17-day meet.
Back in July, riding a six-race win streak and with a high cruising speed that never seemed to slacken, the 3-year-old turf horse Silver Max had a future where the sky seemed like the limit. Turns out something like 1 1/8 miles is his limit.
Not only win bettors who backed Dream Peace to favoritism lost when she finished third, beaten a half-length, in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Flower Bowl at Belmont Park. Her defeat also likely cost the Breeders’ Cup a leading contender for the Nov. 2 Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita.
[BREEDERS' CUP 2012: DRF top 10 lists, video replays, latest news]
This is a big weekend for the Juvenile Turf with three Win and You’re In races on Sunday – the Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on the Arc de Triomphe undercard at Longchamp, which might produce a European starter or two; the Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park, and the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland. Another upcoming prep for the Juvenile Turf is Monday’s Zuma Beach Stakes at Santa Anita.
The versatility of Dullahan has afforded his connections the opportunity to run him on dirt, turf, and Polytrack, yet, as far as the Breeders’ Cup goes, there is nothing that is truly perfect for him. The Mile on turf might be too short, the 1 1/2 miles of the Turf might be too far, and though 1 1/4 miles is certainly right up his alley, as proven by his victory in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar, Dullahan never has rolled a strike on dirt.
