ELMONT, N.Y. - He began 2022 drubbing 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park. The connections of Life Is Good hope their 4-year-old ends 2022 vying for his own Horse of the Year title at the Breeders’ Cup in November at Keeneland.
Which Breeders’ Cup race Life Is Good ultimately ends up in will be determined in the coming months, though the $6 million Classic at 1 1/4 miles is the desired goal.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The gates opened for the 129th Metropolitan Handicap and Flightline, the heavy favorite, was away last. John Sadler, Flightline’s trainer, felt queasy.
“I wanted to throw up on myself,” Sadler said. “But you got to sit there and watch it and see what happens.”
Dr. Schivel, second by a nose in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 6, has resumed training for a final start of the year in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
There is a likelihood that Dr. Schivel will have a different jockey for the prestigious race, a fixture on the opening day of the track’s winter-spring meeting.
Jackie’s Warrior, who finished sixth as the 1-2 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, emerged from the race with a bone chip in his left knee, trainer Steve Asmussen said Wednesday.
Asmussen said Dr. Larry Bramlage of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital removed the chip in a procedure Friday. The horse is currently in Kentucky.
“He is going to do rehab at Becky Maker’s farm in Lexington,” Asmussen said. “We do plan on a 2022 campaign.”
Separate-pool wagering on five Breeders’ Cup races offered in Japan and Hong Kong on Saturday was a total of approximately $14.8 million, the Breeders’ Cup said.
In Japan, bettors wagered $11.7 million on three Breeders’ Cup races, the Filly and Mare Turf, the Mile, and the Turf, according to the Breeders’ Cup. In Hong Kong, bettors wagered $3.1 million on two races, the Mile and the Turf.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It might well be impossible to find someone loving life more than Wayne Catalano these days.
Still euphoric from winning the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last weekend with Aloha West, Catalano and his wife, Renee, took their sweet time returning from California to their Airstream trailer parked in a southern Indiana campground just across the Ohio River from downtown Louisville.
“Stopped off in Chicago to enjoy all this with family,” Catalano said before he returned Tuesday evening to Louisville.
Grade 1, $1,840,000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, 1 1/16 miles, Del Mar, Nov. 5, 2021
(0 Derby qualifying points for first, 8 for second, 4 for third, 2 for fourth)
Winner: Corniche, by Quality Road
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Mike Smith
Owner: Speedway Stables LLC
Beyer Speed Figure: 91
DEL MAR, Calif. – Knicks Go emphatically stamped himself the 2021 Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male with his victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday, and over the course of the two-day, 14-race event a number of other year-end honors were solidified, most notably 2-year-old filly, where Echo Zulu is a slam dunk. But many divisions have become as tough to see through as the morning fog that often descends upon Del Mar.
Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Knicks Go and Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Aloha West gave Maryland two Breeders’ Cup winners last week at Del Mar.
Aloha West captured the Sprint by a nose, a few hours before Knicks Go scored his second Breeders’ Cup win in the Classic. He won the Dirt Mile in 2020.
Knicks Go became the third Maryland-bred to win the Classic, joining Concern (1994) and the legendary Cigar (1995).
