West Virginia Racing Commission stewards have issued a 10-year suspension to jockey Marshall Mendez after ruling the rider possessed an illegal electrical device on Oct. 11, the night of the track’s West Virginia Breeders’ Classic program.
Marcus Jody, Mendez’s agent, declined to comment, but said the 30-year-old jockey plans to appeal within the 20-day window provided by state law.
Del Mar
Saturday, Oct. 25
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 60 degrees
Track: Fast
DEL MAR, Calif. – For the second consecutive morning, trainer Michael McCarthy dominated the Breeders’ Cup work tab at Del Mar, sending out three of his Breeders’ Cup contenders to breeze here Saturday over a fast main track. The turf course was also open for business for the first time this week, with Ag Bullet the only horse to take advantage of the opportunity to work on the grass.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Full Serrano was a relatively handy winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at healthy odds of 13-1. He won’t be nearly that price when he seeks a repeat victory against two other Breeders’ Cup winners and a Kentucky Derby winner in the $1 million Dirt Mile.
“Somebody said where is he at compared to last year? I think he’s the same maybe a smidge better,” trainer John Sadler said. “He’s going to have to be.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Big City Lights will start in his first Grade 1 in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar after a series of fast workouts.
On Saturday at Santa Anita, Big City Lights zoomed five furlongs in 58 seconds. The time was close to expectations for a 6-year-old horse who has not raced since a win by 7 3/4 lengths in the California Cup Sprint for statebreds at six furlongs at Santa Anita on Jan. 18, trainer Richard Mandella said.
“He hasn’t run in awhile,” Mandella said. “We wanted him to do something.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gold Phoenix has had three races on his annual calendar since 2022.
He has won the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap in late August or early September annually since 2022, and has run with mixed results since then in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita in advance of the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Gold Phoenix became the first four-time winner of the Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 30. He followed with a first career win in the John Henry Turf Championship on Sept. 27 after finishing third in the race in 2022, and fifth in 2023 and 2024.
ARCADIA, Calif. – No one has tried Sovereignty more than Baeza. Few have come closer to beating Sovereignty than Baeza did when he finished just one length behind him in the Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga in July.
Next Saturday, Baeza will take a fourth crack at Sovereignty in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Kopion has changed direction for the Breeders’ Cup. Instead of racing seven furlongs as the favorite in the Filly and Mare Sprint, Kopion will take on boys in the BC Sprint at six furlongs.
Trainer Richard Mandella confirmed the move Saturday morning. He said Kopion will join comebacker Big City Lights in the BC Sprint; Tamara will be the only Mandella starter in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.
The sprinters Hope Road and Imagination worked five furlongs in a scorching 57.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Friday for Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 1.
Both 4-year-olds, Hope Road and Imagination were part of a small team of runners trained by Bob Baffert who worked on Friday.
The filly Hope Road, winner of the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23 for her third stakes win, is scheduled to run in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint along with stablemates Richi and Splendora.
The flashy workouts are finished for She Feels Pretty, who will start as the leading domestic hope in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
She Feels Pretty breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds at Keeneland on Oct. 10, with “a huge gallop-out”, trainer Cherie DeVaux said. On Friday at Keeneland, She Feels Pretty worked the same distance in a more leisurely 49 seconds.
“She had a nice gallop-out, but we kept her from doing too much,” DeVaux said.
DeVaux described Friday’s workout as “a nice maintenance half, well in hand.”
Mystik Dan, the 2024 Kentucky Derby winner, on Friday at Churchill Downs worked a half-mile in 48.20 seconds in preparation for a start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
Mystik Dan was ridden in the work by Francisco Arrieta, who rode him to victory in the Grade 2 Lukas Classic and who will ride him in the Dirt Mile.
“Just a nice maintenance half-mile, I told Francisco to hit all 12 [second furlongs], he hit that,” trainer Kenny McPeek said. “He worked fast last week. He didn’t need anything overdone today.”
