Commentator will not be entered Wednesday for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint, to be run Saturday at Churchill Downs.
According to a Breeders' Cup release, trainer Nick Zito said Commentator had aggravated a previous shin injury in his left fore. The defection of Commentator will allow Areyoutalkintome to draw in to the race from the also-eligible list.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Untouched Talent has been withdrawn from consideration for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, trainer Jeff Bonde said Sunday. With her defection, first alternate Lilly Carson will have the opportunity to race in Saturday's Juvenile Fillies.
Bonde said Untouched Talent did not have sufficient time to recover from recent throat surgery to correct an entrapped epiglottis. "It's not completely healed," he said. "It usually takes three weeks to close and fully heal."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Rainy weather wreaked havoc with some horsemen's training plans in and around the Louisville area Saturday morning, but Breeders' Cup contenders did work at three different training sites in Kentucky. Because of the track conditions at Churchill Downs, some horsemen postponed scheduled workouts until Sunday.
Trainer Eduardo Inda came to Churchill Downs in 2000 with one of the heaviest favorites in Breeders' Cup history and came away stunned with disappointment. Inda sent out Riboletta to a seventh-place finish as the 2-5 favorite in the BC Distaff, marking both his last time to Churchill and in the Breeders' Cup.
While heavy rains and strong winds in New York may force trainers based at Belmont Park to postpone their Breeders' Cup workouts until Monday, two horsemen based in the Midwest weren't going to allow a little inclement weather to throw them off schedule with their contenders for the $2 million Distaff.
Andrew Leggio Jr., trainer of Happy Ticket, and Dallas Stewart, trainer of Lemons Forever, put their fillies through their final Distaff workouts Saturday in Kentucky, albeit at different venues.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - For a horse as remarkably consistent as Lava Man, his travels out of state have been puzzling, abject failures. The California-bred gelding has raced and won on turf and dirt at Del Mar, Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, Bay Meadows, Golden Gate Fields, and Fairplex, so he obviously has no trouble moving from town to town, and surface to surface. Except, it seems, when an airplane ride is involved.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - After losing by an average of 13 lengths in her first three starts of the year and losing her rider as she left the starting gate in the fourth, it may be considered a miracle of sorts that Malibu Mint earned a starting berth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. But trainer James Chapman doesn't believe it will take a miracle, only a little racing luck, for Malibu Mint to prove competitive against many of the fastest horses in the world on Breeders' Cup Day.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Trainer Doug O'Neill was praising Keeneland's new Polytrack surface on Friday morning after being able to work all five of his potential Breeders' Cup starters as scheduled despite showers that would likely have forced him to postpone the drills had he been stabled down the road at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There is a saying in racing that suggests that for owners to succeed they need to surround themselves with the best company and place their horses in the worst. But owner Bruce Lunsford has excelled merely by following the first half of that strategy.
Trainer Jeremy Noseda made a most auspicious Breeders' Cup debut in 2004 when he shipped Wilko from England to Lone Star Park and upset the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at odds of 28-1. Last year, Noseda came to New York with his second-string miler, Majors Cast, who finished two lengths back while finishing fifth behind Artie Schiller in the Mile at odds of 20-1.
Saturday, at Churchill Downs, Noseda will saddle his third Breeders' Cup starter and the odds will be much lower while expectations will be much higher on Araafa in the $2 million Mile.
