From a tactical standpoint, trainer Steve Asmussen has all the bases covered in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
Society likes to race close to the lead. In last year’s Filly and Mare Sprint, she battled for early supremacy before tiring to finish fourth.
On the other hand, Zeitlos appears a true one-run closer, rallying from off the pace to win her last four dirt starts.
They’ll challenge a talented field that includes Ways and Means, Sweet Azteca, Vahva, and Scylla.
The finish wire at Del Mar probably is the end of the line for Idiomatic, the majestic 5-year-old mare seeking a second Breeders’ Cup Distaff victory for owner-breeder Juddmonte Farm.
While a Distaff repeat would be a fine way to go out, no decision has been made for 2025, when Idiomatic will be 6. Will she campaign on the racetrack, or go to the breeding shed? Juddmonte USA general manger Garrett O’Rourke deferred.
Cogburn is a hot commodity as he heads toward the Breeders’ Cup – and to his next career.
With less than three weeks to go until the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, Cogburn will be one of the heaviest favorites on the Saturday card when he starts in the Turf Sprint. He is the 9-5 early choice on Brad Free’s line for Daily Racing Form, with Bradsell the second choice at 3-1. The only shorter-priced favorite on the card is Eclipse Award champion Idiomatic, at an early 8-5 to defend her win in the Distaff, with Thorpedo Anna at 2-1.
Perhaps the biggest surprise when it comes to assessing Nakatomi’s performance in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita is not that he finished a close third as a 26-1 outsider behind defending champion Elite Power.
It was the fact the late-running gelding did so after shockingly finding himself contesting the pace in the run down the backstretch despite breaking a bit tardily under Luis Saez, who replaced Nakatomi’s regular jockey Tyler Gaffalione after the latter opted to keep his regular seat aboard the ultimate runner-up, Gunite, instead.
English-based trainer Mick Appleby not only saddled his first Breeders’ Cup starter last year, he saddled his first North American starter, period.
Big Evs won the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Santa Anita and makes another trip to California this year for the Turf Sprint at Del Mar. He will be joined by stablemate Big Mojo, who will run in the Grade 1, $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint. The pair are owned by Paul and Rachael Teasdale’s RP Racing and will be ridden by Tom Marquand.
Immersive is scheduled to work Friday at Churchill Downs as she continues preparations for the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
The work will be her first since her Oct. 4 win in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland. She emerged from the race in excellent condition, trainer Brad Cox said Tuesday. Immersive made her two-turn debut in the Alcibiades and is now 3 for 3.
Seize the Grey, the Preakness and Pennsylvania Derby winner, will make his next start in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 2 at Del Mar, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Tuesday.
Following Seize the Grey’s victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 21, Lukas had left the $7 million Classic, at 1 1/4 miles, open as a possibility. On Tuesday, Lukas said after conferring with the ownership group that includes My Racehorse and Gainesway Farm, the decision was made to run in the Dirt Mile.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The graded stakes winner Alpha Bella will start in the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile at Del Mar on Nov. 2 and not in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on the same program.
Trainer John Sadler said the $200,000 Bayakoa Stakes has greater appeal than the BC Distaff at 1 1/8 miles, which will draw a tough field of nationally prominent runners and a highly regarded filly from Japan.
“I’ll run her on the undercard,” Sadler said of Alpha Bella. “I think she’s a good fit there.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Anarchist, a two-time graded stakes winner in 2023 who was third in the Group 3 Korea Sprint in Seoul, South Korea, on Sept. 8, will not start in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 2, trainer Doug O’Neill said on Sunday.
Instead, the 5-year-old Anarchist will be pointed to a 2025 campaign.
“We’ll give him some extra time,” O’Neill said.
Flash Bak, winner of the Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos last December and one of the nation’s leading older Quarter Horses, was recently euthanized after being diagnosed with equine infectious anemia, trainer Heath Taylor said on Sunday.
Flash Bak was based at Lone Star Park, near Dallas, when he was diagnosed with the ailment.
