ARCADIA, Calif. - There are quick workouts and there is the effort the 4-year-old filly Kopion displayed at Santa Anita on Sunday.
A four-time stakes winner, Kopion worked three furlongs in 33.20 seconds under jockey Mike Smith in advance of a first start against males in Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar.
“That was pretty amazing,” trainer Richard Mandella said later in the morning at his stable office. “She went in 33 and one, and it looked like she went in 36.”
DEL MAR, Calif. - Humidity, among the pre-entered horses in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, did not ship from England for the race, according to a representative of the International Racing Bureau, which coordinates shipping and on-ground logistics for international Breeders’ Cup participants.
Most recently second in the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket, Humidity ranked as a mid-tier overseas contender for the Juvenile Turf, and probably would have been a pace factor since he has led in nearly all his races.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Desert Gate, winner of the Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes and runner-up in two Grade 1 stakes in California, is out of Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, trainer Bob Baffert told the Breeders’ Cup notes team on Saturday.
“He’s got an infection on his hock and we had to treat it with antibiotics,” said Baffert, who was planning to work the horse on Sunday. “He is going to be Ok, but he is not going to run.”
Total handle at the Keeneland fall meet set a record at $217.6 million, according to an analysis by Daily Racing Form, despite slight drops in field size and the number of turf races the track offered during its 17-day meet, which closed on Saturday.
The total handle was a 3.5 percent jump over last year’s handle of $210.4 million. Keeneland offered the same number of races during both fall meets, and average handle per race also jumped 3.5 percent, to $1,351,808.
DEL MAR, Calif. - It is only 69 miles between Keeneland and Churchill Downs in Kentucky. Jose Ortiz, who rode at Keeneland on Saturday and was to ride at Churchill Downs on Sunday afternoon, took a pretty significant detour.
Ortiz flew from Lexington to San Diego on Saturday night, and early Sunday morning at Del Mar he climbed aboard Journalism to put his recently acquired Breeders’ Cup Classic mount through his final workout prior to Saturday’s $7 million race.
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.”
