ARCADIA, Calif. - Faced with a decision on where to run Pure Clan this month, the partnership that owns the four-time stakes winner opted to gamble. They passed the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Keeneland last weekend in favor of the much tougher $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 24.
Ginger Punch has a chance to win her second straight Breeders' Cup race in the Ladies' Classic. And Curlin, of course, will be trying for consecutive wins in the BC Classic. But let us not overlook Kip Deville, a horse with a good chance to take down the Breeders' Cup Mile for the second year in a row - with still more racing perhaps in his future.
Of the 14 horses that were pre-entered in the new $500,000 Breeders' Cup Marathon, just three have won a 1 1/2-mile race on a synthetic surface: Muhannak, who invades from England, and Delightful Kiss and Zappa, who are both in training in California.
They are part of a broad mix of horses who have signed on for the first running of the Marathon, which will be held over the Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.
In 2003, the last time the Breeders' Cup was held at Santa Anita, trainer Richard Mandella stole the show, winning four of the eight races. When the Breeders' Cup returns to Santa Anita next weekend, Mandella will have only two runners in the 14 races run over two days.
This year, for the first time, horsemen with a 2-year-old filly and designs on the Breeders' Cup have another race to consider besides the Juvenile Fillies - the new Juvenile Fillies Turf. And perhaps not surprisingly, some of the horses' connections took advantage of this new luxury of choice as seven of the 16 runners pre-entered in the Juvenile Fillies were cross-entered in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Laragh will likely be the favorite in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, off her dominating victory in the Oct. 9 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland.
Laragh was sold to Golden Goose Enterprise and IEAH Stable after she won her maiden over Woodbine's Polytrack on Aug. 9. She set a lively pace over soft ground before fading to fifth in the Grade 3 Natalma Stakes on Sept. 14, after which she changed trainers, going from Mark Casse to the Belmont-based John Terranova.
Laragh was scratched from Grade 3 Miss Grillo Stakes on Oct. 1 at Belmont in favor of the Jessamine.
On a conventional dirt racetrack or a distance shorter than seven furlongs, Indian Blessing would be an unqualified standout in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
"It's not a cinch," her trainer Bob Baffert warned.
How could it be? A surprisingly large field of 15 pre-entered the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint (14 can start), and aside from sheer field size, Indian Blessing is challenged by distance and footing.
For Corinthian, the inaugural running of the Dirt Mile was a perfect storm. After winning the Met Mile off a 51-day layoff, he ran just twice during the summer and was coming off a 55-day layoff when he sailed through the slop at Monmouth Park.
"Some horses go up to Saratoga and get fat and lazy, and he was one of them," recalled Jimmy Jerkens. "When he got back from Saratoga, he perked up and began to train better. He went in and out of form; that's just the way he was."
Several contenders in the second Dirt Mile look to emulate Corinthian: