ELMONT, N.Y. - With six legitimate contenders, Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel is expected to finally break through in his bid to win a Breeders' Cup race. The race many expect him to win is the $1 million Juvenile Fillies with You.
"On paper, going in I would think so,' Frankel said when asked if You was his best chance to end his 0 for 36 Breeders' Cup drought. "But, I'm expecting Flute to win [the Distaff]."
ELMONT, N.Y. - Despite his brilliance winning all five of his starts, Officer did not scare anyone out of the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile. A total of 13 juvenile colts were pre-entered for the $1 million Juvenile, run at 1 1/16 miles.
Officer, a son of 1991 Juvenile runner-up Bertrando, has won all of his starts with breathtaking ease. After dominating his competition in California, he shipped cross-country and romped to a 3 3/4-length victory in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont. Jockey Victor Espinoza sat motionless on Officer for the entire 1 1/16 miles.
After sitting on the fence for more than a week, trainer H. Graham Motion on Monday came down on the side of not running Broken Vow in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park. Instead, Motion said Broken Vow, who was narrowly beaten last time out in the Meadowlands Cup, will make his next two starts in Kentucky.
Miss Linda, who won her third straight race in Keeneland's Spinster Stakes, is expected to be the most expensive of this year's supplements to the Breeders' Cup at a cost of $400,000.
Because neither she nor her sire was nominated to the Breeders' Cup, her owners were required to pay 20 percent of the Distaff's $2 million purse.
Owned by Ackerley Brothers Farm and trained by John Kimmel, Miss Linda took the $500,000 Spinster by 2 1/4 lengths at 21-1 odds.
Trainer Bobby Frankel said Monday he will not pre-enter Senure in the Breeders' Cup because his horse "wants firm ground."
"I don't want to take a chance," Frankel said. "I'll wait and run him in the Japan Cup. It's a bigger purse, and it's firm over there all the time."
Senure won the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Memorial at Santa Anita in his last start.
Janet, the winner of the Yellow Ribbon Stakes, was not pre-entered Monday for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf because her owner, Jed Cohen, said he was not happy with the $90,000 supplemental fee.
Cohen said Janet would instead wait for the Grade 2, $250,000 Las Palmas Handicap at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting on Nov. 4, followed by the Grade 1, $500,000 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park on Nov. 25.
"I'm not going to pay $90,000," Cohen said. "It's a bad business decision. To put it mildly, I think it's stupid. I'll keep her home and we'll go for other races."
Guided Tour, who is heading to the Classic, breezed five furlongs on a muddy track in 1:02.80 Monday at Churchill Downs.
Larry Melancon, who will ride Guided Tour in the Classic, was aboard for the work. Guided Tour will work again early next week at Churchill Downs, according to trainer Niall O'Callaghan, then ship to New York on Oct. 24.
Jorge Chavez will replace the injured Rick Wilson aboard Xtra Heat in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, trainer John Salzman said Monday.
Wilson broke his right leg and three ribs in a spill at Pimlico Race Course last Friday and remains hospitalized.
Wilson had been aboard Xtra Heat, who is undefeated at the Sprint's six-furlong distance, for 10 of her 17 career wins.
Salzman said although he would prefer that Wilson was healthy and able to ride Xtra Heat, he has no qualms about using Chavez.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Some may call them crazy. But they really like this fox.
Debbie and Dennis Petrisak were thisclose to selling their undefeated New York-bred 2-year-old filly Shesastonecoldfox to Prestonwood Farm over the weekend. Instead of consummating the deal Monday with Art Preston - who flew to New York from Texas on Sunday - the Petrisaks were waiting for the Breeders' Cup offices to open to deliver personally their $10,000 pre-entry fee for the $1 million Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 27.