The field for the $2 million Turf, already one of the smallest at the Breeders' Cup this year, got even smaller when trainer Neil Drysdale revealed Monday that Sarafan would not make the trip from California to race Saturday in the 1 1/2-mile grass race.
"He hit himself [Sunday] morning and had some inflammation in a front leg," said Drysdale.
When the weanling eventually known as Whipper was sold by Lane's End Farm for a mere $4,000 at the 2001 Keeneland November sales, hardly anyone would have predicted that the colt would become a major contender for the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Mile.
With the overwhelming majority of Breeders' Cup runners staying home for their final workouts and not arriving at Lone Star Park until later this week, Daily Racing Form reporters tracked works in New York, California, and Kentucky, as well as on location in Texas.
Sunday was far and away the busiest work morning for Breeders' Cup contenders from coast to coast, especially at Belmont Park, where the action was brisk on all fronts with Breeders' Cup hopefuls working on both the main and training tracks and the turf course.
Belmont Park
ELMONT, N.Y. - Ready's Gal, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Frizette, has been withdrawn from the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies after suffering a hairline fracture of her right hind pastern, trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday morning.
The injury was diagnosed following a Sunday morning workout over the Belmont Park training track. Ready's Gal was credited with a five-furlong move in 1:03.64, but did not come back well from the move.
Pletcher said he would send a set of X-rays to Dr. Larry Bramlage in Kentucky to determine if surgery would be necessary.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - On a day when five runners for the Breeders' Cup Classic recorded workouts at four different locations, defending race champion Pleasantly Perfect served notice Saturday that he is, as trainer Richard Mandella has maintained for weeks, "just as good or better" than he was one year ago.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Enduring Will became the second filly in two days to defect from the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies when she spiked a temperature and was declared from the race Saturday by trainer Al Stall Jr. Sis City was withdrawn on Friday.
Enduring Will was pointed for the Breeders' Cup after a 10-length win in the $100,000 Silver Spur Breeders' Cup at host site Lone Star Park on Oct. 1. She came down with a fever on Thursday.
Final preps, from coast to coast
With the Breeders' Cup just a week away, top contenders in several of the eight championship races put in final prerace workouts Saturday.
Works were registered on four fronts: Kentucky, Texas, New York, and Southern California. More workouts were scheduled for Sunday and Monday, after which the balance of the BC starters not already in Texas will converge on Lone Star Park.
Here is a rundown of the Saturday works:
Lone Star Park
Partly cloudy, 70 degrees
Main track fast, turf soft
The Breeders' Cup has purchased a supplemental insurance policy to cover jockeys riding at the Oct. 30 event at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, officials for Breeders' Cup said Friday.
The policy will cover jockeys' medical bills up to $500,000, according to the officials. Jockeys are currently covered under a policy purchased by the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, but the policy caps medical coverage at $100,000. The policy will also cover jockeys riding at Lone Star on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29, Breeders' Cup said.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Tom Proctor has the best laugh in racing, a big, hearty, down-home Texas laugh. It was in full force at the 1994 Breeders' Cup. That whole week at Churchill Downs, Proctor and his buddy, trainer Steve Reiser, had their own little comedy act going, and woe to those who fell victim.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Some of Dale Romans's first memories are of being around horses, and, despite a brief detour working in a restaurant, training is all he has ever wanted to do.
"I bussed tables for about a month when I was 16," Romans said. "It made me realize that was real work."
