Wed, 10/03/2001 - 00:00

Mozart, Johannesburg should take to dirt

LAS VEGAS - With the Breeders' Cup only three weeks from Saturday, it's time to take a look at some of the Europeans who may try to transfer their brilliant turf form to dirt.

Mon, 10/01/2001 - 00:00

Habibti due back by week's end (10/2)

Habibti, scratched as the morning-line favorite from Sunday's Oak Leaf Stakes because of illness, is expected to resume training by the end of the week, his trainer, Bob Baffert, said.

Baffert said Habibti developed a temperature on Saturday morning, which rose as high as 102.4. He said she was treated through the day, which brought the temperature down to 100 by Saturday evening.

The winner of the Del Mar Debutante Stakes in August, Habibti remains on schedule for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Baffert said.

Mon, 10/01/2001 - 00:00

Decision near for Came Home (10/2)

A decision was scheduled to be made on Tuesday as to whether Came Home would train up to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile or be put away for the year, co-owner John Toffan said Monday.

Came Home was scratched from Saturday's Norfolk Stakes because of a puffy ankle.

"There was a little filling in his ankle, but it's better now," said Paco Gonzalez, who trains Came Home. Toffan said X-rays showed no fracture.

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Mon, 10/01/2001 - 00:00

BC Turf news: King Cugat injured

ELMONT, N.Y. - King Cugat, who finished second as the odds-on favorite in Saturday's Grade 1 Turf Classic Invitational, came out of the race with strained ligaments in his left foreleg and will be forced to miss the Breeders' Cup Turf, trainer Bill Mott said Monday.

Mott believed the injury was to the distal sesamoidean ligaments located at the base of the sesamoid where it attaches to the pastern bone. On Monday, Mott was waiting for the results of an ultrasound, "which could display something more definitive."

Fri, 09/28/2001 - 00:00

More time between Cup races

NEW YORK - Races in the World Thoroughbred Championships on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park will be separated by 35 minutes or more, slightly longer than the separation of last year's races at Churchill Downs. The extension was made possible by the expansion of the television broadcast on NBC by a half-hour, in part to compensate for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, which was added to the event in 1999. This year, NBC will broadcast for five hours instead of 4 1/2.

Fri, 09/28/2001 - 00:00

Baseball preempts races on TV

NEW YORK - Racing fans looking for live racing telecasts of more than a dozen significant Breeders' Cup prep races the weekend of Oct. 6-7 will be disappointed. Live broadcasts of the weekend's top races, including the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Spinster Stakes, Ancient Title Handicap, and Beldame Stakes, will be shown live only on Television Games Network, the racing channel that is available to a limited number of subscribers.

Thu, 09/27/2001 - 00:00

Countdown to the Cup: the Classic (9/27)

Include's march to the top of the handicap division was interrupted this summer because of a minor injury, but he can reestablish himself as one of the leading contenders for the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic with a victory in Friday night's $500,000 Meadowlands Cup.

Thu, 09/27/2001 - 00:00

Countdown to the Cup: The Distaff (9/27)

Tranquility Lake is good enough to compete against the best female runners on both turf and dirt, which is why she will do both over the next month. She will run on turf Saturday in the $500,000 Yellow Ribbon Invitational at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting, but her objective for the Oct. 27 World Thoroughbred Championships at Belmont Park remains the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff, which is on the dirt.

Thu, 09/27/2001 - 00:00

Countdown to the Cup: The Mile (9/27)

Trainer Neil Drysdale wants Irish Prize as fresh as possible for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Mile at Belmont Park on Oct. 27.

Drysdale said on Wednesday that Irish Prize will not have a prep race, but will train up to the Mile. A 6-year-old, Irish Prize has won three major stakes this year, including the Grade 1 Shoemaker Breeders' Cup Mile at Hollywood Park on May 28. Most recently, he was fourth in the Atto Mile at Woodbine on Sept. 9, finishing a length behind winner Numerous Times, a Breeders' Cup Mile candidate.

The loss did not discourage Drysdale.

Thu, 09/27/2001 - 00:00

Coundown to the Cup: The Turf (9/27)

With Bienamado sidelined, there is no clear leading American candidate for the Breeders' Cup Turf at Belmont on Oct. 27. That situation should change this weekend.

During the spring and summer, Bienamado dominated the division, winning stakes at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. After finishing unplaced in the Arlington Million, Bienamado came down with a splint bone injury that will keep him out for the rest of the year.