Kitten's Joy, the champion turf male of 2004, is being sent to Kentucky this weekend to undergo physical tests, trainer Dale Romans said Wednesday, and there is some concern the horse may not start in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Turf at Belmont Park on Oct. 29.
Romans declined to say what might be wrong with the 4-year-old Kitten's Joy, but the trainer said he has been concerned about the colt's condition since last weekend.
Ghostzapper, Pleasantly Perfect, and Volponi - the last three winners of the Breeders' Cup Classic - all are done racing, but not Perfect Drift, who chased all of them home and is seeking his fourth straight berth in the $4 million Classic this year at Belmont Park on Oct. 29.
The addition of Happy Ticket to the Grade 1, $750,000 Beldame Stakes on Oct. 1 at Belmont Park has strengthened a race that already was shaping up as the premier prep for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff on Oct. 29.
The Beldame, like the Distaff, is at 1 1/8 miles at Belmont Park. A number of top older runners are expected for the Beldame, including Ashado, Island Sand, Shadow Cast, and Society Selection, as well as the unbeaten 3-year-old filly Sweet Symphony.
Most of the horses that have come into the Breeders' Cup Mile with big, sometimes inflated, reputations have been trained in Europe. Miesque and Spinning World lived up to their billing with victories, but Zilzal, Mark of Esteem, and Rock of Gibraltar all failed.
This year, for the first time since Lure took his second Mile in 1993, the big horse in the run-up to the Mile is trained in the United States.
Blue skies and bright sunshine have dominated the New York landscape lately, but with five weeks until the 22nd Breeders' Cup championships at Belmont Park, that could change in a big way.
In fact, nasty weather on Breeders' Cup Day could mean the world to veteran trainer Jimmy Toner. Toner doesn't like raining on anyone's parade, but his stable star, Wonder Again, excels on yielding turf.
"I think the weather's been just terrible lately," Toner, tongue firmly in cheek, said Wednesday by phone from his Belmont Park base.
Eight years after winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile with Favorite Trick, trainer Patrick Byrne appears headed back to that race with the undefeated Sorcerer's Stone.
Sorcerer's Stone punched his ticket to the Juvenile with an impressive 8 1/2-length win in Sunday's Arlington-Washington Breeders' Cup Futurity, in which he set a stakes record by running one mile in 1:35.16. Sorcerer's Stone is now 3 for 3 and will simply train up to the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Oct. 29.
D. Wayne Lukas has never missed a Breeders' Cup, and it became evident last weekend that the Hall of Fame trainer's streak will remain intact when Belmont Park hosts the 22nd Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships on Oct. 29.
According to the Beyer Speed Figures, the fastest horse pointing for this year's Breeders' Cup Sprint on Oct. 29 at Belmont Park is not Lost in the Fog, Pico Central, Pomeroy, or Woke Up Dreamin. That distinction belongs to Wildcat Heir, whose 117 Beyer earned in his 5 3/4-length victory in Monmouth Park's Teddy Drone Stakes is the highest among all Sprint hopefuls.
It's a longshot. Maybe not Arcangues at $269.20, but a longshot nonetheless. Longshots, though, do come in. And trainer Tim Ritchey is still holding out hope that Afleet Alex, who has pulled off some remarkable achievements this year, can do it again by making it back from a hairline fracture in time for the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Belmont Park on Oct. 29.
It looks as if top East Coast 2-year-olds First Samurai and Henny Hughes could meet one more time before the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The connections of both horses said Wednesday that they are targeting the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on Oct. 8 for their next start.
