ARCADIA, Calif. - At the least, Refuse to Bend is due to run a big race in Saturday's $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita.
In his last four starts, Refuse to Bend has won two important races, but each win was followed by a loss.
On May 3, Refuse to Bend won the English 2000 Guineas at a mile, but was only 13th in the June 7 English Derby at 1 1/2 miles, a distance trainer Dermot Weld says was too far.
ARCADIA, Calif. - When Got Koko and Elloluv crossed the wire first and second in the Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap on Sept. 28, their performances were overshadowed by the end of Azeri's 11-race winning streak. On Saturday, they can be the focal point of the story, in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff.
ARCADIA, Calif. - They say a good horse can come from anywhere. But it seems hard to believe that perhaps the best 2-year-old trainer colt D. Wayne Lukas has this year came from his Arlington Park division.
After a one-year hiatus from the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Lukas - a five-time winner of this race - is back with a live longshot in Race for Glory, a California-bred son of Cape Town. Race for Glory has not taken the orthodox road to the Cup, as have so many of Lukas's 34 other Juvenile starters.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Hollywood Story may still be a maiden, but she has more than a fair chance to make an impact in Saturday's $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Hollywood Story is half of a solid two-ply entry that trainer John Shirreffs will send out against undefeated Halfbridled. Tarlow, who finished a half-length ahead of Hollywood Story when those two finished second and third behind Halfbridled in the Oak Leaf, is the other.
SANTA ANITA
Clear, 68
Main track: Fast
Tuesday morning featured the first appearance on the racetrack for most of the European horses, whose ability to adjust to the unseasonably warm weather could be a major factor on Breeders' Cup Day. As an accommodation to the Europeans, the training schedule was restructured to allow horses on the grass course at 7:30 a.m., more than two hours earlier than usual, at which time the temperature was still a moderate 68 degrees.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Storming Home, the top turf marathoner in California this year, may have a home-course advantage in Saturday's $2 million Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita.
On Sept. 28, Storming Home won the Clement Hirsch Turf Championship in his first appearance on the course. Sunday, he worked seven furlongs in 1:28.40, finishing well.
Storming Home worked in company with stablemate Sarafan, a pre-entrant for the Breeders' Cup Mile.
Storming Home started behind Sarafan and drew alongside his workmate on turn.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Azeri had been acting in an obstinate manner of late, and trainer Laura de Seroux instinctively believed something was amiss. On Monday, de Seroux found what she believes had caused Azeri's behavioral change, and while the trainer was relieved to finally find a cause to the effect, the diagnosis was sobering, because it will keep Azeri out of Saturday's Breeders' Cup Distaff, and might very well bring Azeri's racing career to a close.
ARCADIA, Calif. - At two Southern California racetracks on Monday, top 3-year-olds Oasis Dream and Peace Rules took different paths in their preparation for Saturday's $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Mile.
Oasis Dream, the English invader, cleared quarantine and took a walk through the Santa Anita backstretch and paddock with jockey Richard Hughes. He is among the favorites for the Mile.
