In the first 41 years of the Breeders’ Cup, there have been only four 3-year-olds to have run in all three Triple Crown races and win the Classic later that year.
On Nov. 1 at Del Mar, Journalism will attempt to become the fifth, joining, among others, his sire, Curlin, who pulled off the feat in 2007. He joined Sunday Silence (1989) and Unbridled (1990), and they were joined by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2015.
More than $1.03 million in purses from five six-figure Quarter Horse stakes run at Los Alamitos from February to September 2024 has been ordered redistributed after 10 runners tested positive for the banned medication carmoterol, according to complaints filed by the California Horse Racing Board on Oct. 9.
Eusebio Juarez Rufino, a trainer based mostly in Oklahoma and Louisiana, has been suspended two years for the possession of two syringes filled with a banned drug, according to a ruling posted on the website of the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit.
Churchill Downs has added two races in Dubai and one race in Saudi Arabia to its series of stakes races at tracks in Europe and the Middle East that will award up to two berths in the Kentucky Derby field, the company announced on Tuesday.
The additions will bring the total number of stakes in the European/Middle East series to 10. The connections of the two top points getters in the series will be eligible to claim automatic spots in the starting gate for the Derby, which has a maximum field of 20 horses.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Straight No Chaser, the champion male sprinter of 2024, worked a half-mile in a quick 47.20 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday in advance of a scheduled start in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
Straight No Chaser won the 2024 BC Sprint to clinch his title. In an abbreviated campaign this year, Straight No Chaser has started three times, the most recent of which was a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at six furlongs on Sept. 28.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Cavalieri, the undefeated three-time stakes winner, will miss a scheduled start in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar on Nov. 1, trainer Bob Baffert said on Sunday.
Baffert said the 4-year-old Cavalieri will remain in training despite missing the nation’s richest race for fillies and mares.
“She’ll be back,” he said. “It was very minor.”
Cavalieri’s defection from the BC Distaff was first reported by FanDuel TV.
Minnie Hauk, a close second in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Oct. 5, remains under consideration for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1, while the five-time stakes winner Diego Velazquez is set for retirement and will not start in the $2 million BC Mile at Del Mar, trainer Aidan O’Brien said on Sunday.
In a brief telephone interview, O’Brien provided an update on some of his expected runners for the Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, emphasizing that the list has not been finalized.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Breeders’ Cup hopeful Bellezza, the Grade 2 Flower Bowl winner, went a half-mile in 49.06 seconds over Saratoga's Oklahoma dirt training track Sunday morning. Bellezza is pointing to the BC Filly and Mare Turf.
Bellezza started two lengths behind workmate Skywatcher, a 2-year-old maiden, drew even at the top of the lane and finished on even terms. Bellezza galloped five furlongs in 1:02.24.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Sierra Leone, the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, and Sovereignty, the horse who figures to be favored to win the 2025 Classic, put in workouts minutes apart Sunday over the Oklahoma training track on a cool, but dry morning in Saratoga.
Sierra Leone, working in company with the maiden Duration, went a half-mile in 48.54 seconds with a strong gallop out. Shortly thereafter, Sovereignty, working in company with recent maiden winner Playa Del Mar, went five furlongs in 59.94 seconds, galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.03.
Baeza and Journalism, two of the nation’s leading 3-year-olds, had workouts at Santa Anita on Friday for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
Baeza, winner of the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing in his last start on Sept. 20, worked five furlongs in 59 seconds, the second-fastest of 33 recorded works at the distance.
“I was a little surprised,” trainer John Shirreffs said of the time. “We wanted a nice workout.”
Jockey Hector Berrios was aboard for the workout. Shirreffs said that Baeza worked in company with a stablemate.
