Talk about an unlikely showdown in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff – a champion who was sidelined for a year and a half facing the winner of the Preakness Stakes.
Huh?
Monomoy Girl already has produced the greatest comeback of 2020, winning all three of her starts with sights on a repeat in the Distaff. She won the race in 2018, then disappeared. This year, Monomoy Girl is back, better than ever, and 2-1 favorite according to Daily Racing Form.
There may be little certainty about whether division leaders Vekoma and Complexity will run in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint or the Dirt Mile, but there has never been any doubt over the past several years as to exactly what Whitmore will be doing on Breeders’ Cup Day.
It’s a quarter-mile longer than the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, a quarter-mile shorter than the BC Classic, and when it’s run at Keeneland, it’s not even one full lap around the main track. That makes the $1 million Dirt Mile, to be run Nov. 7, a fit for horses stretching out from one-turn races or shortening up from Triple Crown endeavors. This year, several Dirt Mile candidates figure to be cross-entered when pre-entries are due Oct. 26, keeping the prospective field in flux for now.
Leinster made his eighth start of 2019 in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita and finished seventh. The 5-year-old’s objective for 2020 has been a return to that race, this renewal hosted at Keeneland, where he is based with trainer Rusty Arnold. And 2020 has been a year like no other.
The Grade 1 Frizette ought to give a little more clarity to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies when it is run Sunday at Belmont Park, although it seems unlikely that any of the handful of BC hopefuls in the lineup will ultimately challenge the likes of Princess Noor and Simply Ravishing for favoritism at Keeneland.
Through its first 11 runnings, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint had not been won by a 3-year-old, even with sophomore stars such as Unique Bella (2017), Carina Mia (2016), Turbulent Descent (2011), Champagne d’Oro (2010), and Indian Blessing (2008) having gone favored.
A California appeals court has overturned a decision by the California Horse Racing Board that required a horse owner to pay mount fees to two jockeys after one of the riders was replaced in the run-up to a $2 million stakes race.
The California Second District Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the owner, Charles Fipke, was not required to pay both jockeys a share of the purse from the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Distaff unless the replaced rider was removed after scratch time.
The National Horseplayers Championship has been delayed until late August because of the coronavirus pandemic, the organizers of the tournament announced on Friday.
The new date of Aug. 27-29 at Bally’s hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nev., is more than six months after its previously scheduled date, Feb. 12-14. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which organizes the tournament, said that eligibility for the re-scheduled tournament and the standings for the NHC Tour will still be based on tournament results through Jan. 23, 2021.
Angel Montano, a former leading trainer on the Kentucky circuit who was the longest-tenured trainer at Churchill Downs, died Thursday in a Louisville hospital from numerous health complications, including COVID-19. He was 80.
At his career peak, Montano was the leading trainer at Churchill for three straight spring meets (1976-78) while also win-ning titles during the same time frame at Ellis Park and Latonia.
