ARCADIA, Calif. - No one has earned more prize money in the history of the Breeders’ Cup than Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
Few will have as powerful of a team as Baffert for the two days of Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.
As of Sunday, Baffert had candidates for seven of the 14 races, including three possible runners for the Juvenile with Brant, Desert Gate, and Litmus Test, as well as Hope Road, Richi and Splendora in the Filly and Mare Sprint.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The closest California trainer Jeff Mullins has come to winning a Breeders’ Cup race with 11 career starters was a second-place finish by Wild Fit in the 2005 Juvenile Fillies at Belmont Park.
The 12th runner may provide a breakthrough result at Del Mar on Oct. 31.
Intrepido is bound for the $2 million BC Juvenile after an impressive win at 8-1 in Saturday’s Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The connections of the two Grade 1 juvenile stakes winners at Aqueduct on Saturday are in no hurry to decide if they will send their charges West for the Breeders’ Cup to be run in less than four weeks at Del Mar.
Napoleon Solo, the 6 1/4-length winner of the Grade 1 Champagne for 2-year-old males, and Iron Orchard, the nose victor of the Grade 1 Frizette for 2-year-old fillies, will both be considered for, but are from certain to move on to, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies, respectively.
Sovereignty, the leading 3-year-old in the country who will bid for Horse of the Year honors in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, stepped up his preparations for that race by working five furlongs in 1:01.44 on Sunday morning over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga.
Jeff Siegel, the renowned Southern California television commentator and syndicated handicapper who was also a race-horse owner and college basketball enthusiast, died on Saturday after a lengthy illness, Santa Anita officials said.
Siegel was 74. He spent nearly his entire adult life in various capacities of racing, beginning with a position on the Hollywood Park publicity staff in 1974.
Take Charge Tom, a five-time stakes winner who captured the Grade 3 Canadian Derby in August at Century Mile, will have the winter off, according to trainer Robertino Diodoro.
Take Charge Tom last ran Sept. 28 in the Oklahoma Derby. He dropped out of the race on the final turn and was subsequently given a van ride back to the barn in a precautionary measure, Diodoro said.
Jackman’s Ride ran the race of his career when the 8-year-old won last month’s $250,000 Great West Stakes at Remington Park.
The new turf sprint was designed as a potential steppingstone for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, but plans are to keep Jackman’s Ride in the Southwest market, according to trainer J.R. Caldwell.
“We’ll just keep him right here at home,” he said. “We’re just going to enjoy him, keep him in his spots, keep him happy.”
Jackman’s Ride is owned by Oklahoma residents Steve and Wanda Dupy.
Bracket Buster has returned home to Keeneland following his Oklahoma Derby win and trainer Vicki Oliver said late last week that his next move will be determined soon.
She said he could run back one more time this year in the Grade 3, $350,000 Fayette on Oct. 25 at Keeneland, or he may have wrapped up his season in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 28 at Remington Park.
“We’ll just see how he trains and make our decision in the next 10 days or so,” she said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Deterministic, a two-time Grade 1 winner this year and among the leaders of North America’s male turf division, will not race again this year, but he will be brought back for a 5-year-old campaign in 2026, trainer Miguel Clement confirmed on Saturday.
Deterministic has not had a published work since he won the Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga on Aug. 2. Two months prior to that, he won the Grade 1 Manhattan, a race shortened from 1 3/16 miles to 1 1/8 miles and also run at Saratoga on June 8.
Jockey Carol Cedeno is expected to miss two to three months after being unseated during a race at Meadowlands Racetrack last weekend. She required surgery to treat a fracture in her left wrist and suffered several minor fractures in her back, but she is expected to make a full recovery.
Cedeno was aboard Micro Brewsky in the fourth race at Meadowlands on Sept. 27 when the 5-year-old gelding briefly took the lead in the stretch before stumbling badly. He was taken off the track in an equine ambulance and was later euthanized, per trainer Derek Ryan.
