Three significant preps for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, including the Flower Bowl, a race trainer Christophe Clement calls "a mini-Breeders' Cup," will be run this weekend.
The results of these races should put the prospective lineup for the Filly and Mare Turf into focus after the defection of division leader Astra, who will miss the race because of injury.
The Breeders' Cup Juvenile lost a major contender this week when Mayakovsky, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Hopeful, suffered a chip in his left hind ankle and will be out a minimum of three months.
Mayakovsky, who broke a 55-year-old track record winning his maiden at Saratoga on July 25, apparently suffered the injury after working six furlongs in 1:11.25 at Belmont Park last Saturday. He was shipped to Kentucky and was scheduled to have the chip surgically removed Wednesday at the Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Veterinary Clinic in Lexington.
Habibti figures to strengthen her status as the leading juvenile filly in the West on Sunday when she heads a short field expected for the Grade 1 Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita.
Habibti, a daughter of Tabasco Cat, was initially being pointed to the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont on Oct. 6, but trainer Bob Baffert said he likes that the Oak Leaf gives Habibti an extra week leading up the $1 million Juvenile Fillies on Oct. 27.
"If the Frizette was this week I probably would have gone," Baffert said.
Left Bank is headed straight to the Breeders' Cup Sprint after wearing down pacesetter and favorite Squirtle Squirt to win last Saturday's Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont by a half-length.
Left Bank's time of 1:20.73 was the Vosburgh's fastest running at Belmont and the second-fastest in 62 runnings. Only Dr. Fager ran a faster Vosburgh, 1:20.20, at Aqueduct in 1968.
Left Bank's trainer, Todd Pletcher, has run three horses in the Sprint, with his best finish coming from More Than Ready, who was fifth last year.
Astra, the undisputed leader of the filly and mare turf division until her poor showing last month in the Beverly D. Stakes, is now considered an unlikely participant in the World Thoroughbred Championships on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park, according to her trainer, Laura de Seroux.
The likely defection of Astra from the Filly and Mare Turf on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park leaves a wide-open field for the 1 1/4-mile race. The leading contenders are England's Legend, Starine, Lailani, and The Seven Seas.
Turfway Park officials expected Caller One to ship in from California for Saturday's $75,000 Marfa Stakes, but late Tuesday afternoon, Caller One's trainer, Jim Chapman, said he would stay home and train up to the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Belmont Park on Oct. 27.
"I'm going to stay here because of the insecurity of the race [filling]," Chapman said. "I also think we will be in better shape by training up to the race because we will have a fresher horse."
NEW YORK - Penske Auto Centers has reached an agreement to sponsor the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint race, officials announced on Thursday.
With Penske, a Michigan-based automotive service center, on board, Breeders' Cup will now have at least two sponsors at the World Thoroughbred Championships, which consists of the eight Breeders' Cup races on Oct. 27 at Belmont Park.
Daily Racing Form's complete coverage of the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships begins Thursday, Sept. 20 with the first weekly installment of Countdown to the Cup, a detailed look at each of the eight Breeders' Cup races.
Just click on one of the links below to read a report.
At the bottom of each story, you'll find a link to Mike Watchmaker's rankings for that race.
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