ARCADIA, Calif. - Flagstaff, a Grade 1 winner at Churchill Downs in May, is doubtful for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar on Saturday, trainer John Sadler said Sunday.
“I’m leaning against entering,” he said. “He’s 7 turning 8. He’s been a good horse for us. He’s made $1 million, but we feel he’s not on top of his game.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Handle and purse payouts established all-time track records at Keeneland as the 17-day fall meet came to an end Saturday.
All-sources handle was $181,009,626, easily surpassing the overall record set at the spring meet in April ($164.7 million) and the former fall-meet record set in 2019 ($160.2 million).
DEL MAR, CA. - The international quarantine barn for overseas horses traveling to Del Mar for the Nov. 5-6 Breeders' Cup races hummed with activity Saturday morning. And well it should have. By Saturday night, 44 international shippers, a record number for the Breeders’ Cup, will have arrived in California.
Oct. 30, 2021
Del Mar
Weather: Hazy
Temp: 60
Track: Fast
DEL MAR, Calif. - Unlike at many of the other major racing venues around the country, where weather put a crimp in the final workout plans for a large number of potential Breeders’ Cup contenders on Saturday, there was no rain, no fog and no shortage of action at Del Mar, where 13 horses got in their final major preps for this year’s Breeders’ Cup.
DEL Mar, Ca. - Workouts aren’t everything when it comes to Breeders’ Cup horses. A horse can work lights-out and still be too slow to contend in a Breeders’ Cup race.
But it was hard not to be impressed with the way Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf starter Mackinnon worked Saturday morning over the Del Mar dirt.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Though champion Gamine typically does her running from in front, she was given a target to run at Saturday morning at Santa Anita in her final workout prior to the $1 million Breeder’s Cup Filly and Mare Sprint next Saturday at Del Mar.
DEL MAR, Calif. – A flawless final work for Classic-bound Hot Rod Charlie and a compromised work for Distaff favorite Letruska highlighted the activity among Breeders’ Cup horses Saturday morning at Del Mar.
The works for those two, and 11 other Breeders’ Cup horses, took place on a cool, overcast morning.
Both Hot Rod Charlie and Letruska worked right after the mid-morning renovation break.
ELMONT, N.Y. – On the nine-year anniversary of Super Storm Sandy hitting the Northeast, another storm of much less consequence was forecast to hit Long Island late Friday, likely making for sloppy and soft conditions at Belmont Park on Saturday.
Thus, many New York-based horsemen were forced to alter their training schedules, moving up by a day their final breezes for horses bound for the Breeders’ Cup, to be run next Friday and Saturday at Del Mar. A total of 21 horses bound for California put in workouts Friday morning over three different tracks at Belmont Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. -- Annapolis, the 3-1 favorite on Daily Racing Form’s morning line for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, will be forced to miss the race due to a hind ankle chip, trainer Todd Pletcher said Friday morning.
Pletcher believes the horse will need surgery to remove the chip but was awaiting confirmation of that from Dr. Larry Bramlage of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital.
“It’s minor, but horrific timing obviously,” Pletcher said.
At Belmont Park on Thursday, trainer Todd Pletcher worked a quartet of 2-year-olds scheduled to run in Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar.
Annapolis, a top contender for the Juvenile Turf, worked a half-mile in 50.37 seconds in company with Nest, who was a late addition to the Juvenile Fillies field. The pair went their opening quarter in 25.84 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.51 over the training track.
Pletcher said he wanted to work Annapolis over the turf, but since the course was soft, he opted to keep him on the dirt.
