Repole's BC move sends right signal to the sport

Owner Mike Repole deserves all the credit in the world for his personal boycott of the Breeders' Cup this year ("Repole: No Lasix, no Breeders' Cup," Oct. 19) for many reasons, all of them valid.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − The rain was teeming down here on a dreary fall morning, bringing most activity to a halt on Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track Friday.

A mile or so away, it was business as usual at the Greentree training facility, where horses owned by Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley and Godolphin operations were going through their regular routine over the Polytrack surface.

Activity included workouts by three of Godolphin’s Grade 1 winners, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, who are pointing to Breeders’ Cup races in two weeks at Santa Anita.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The well-traveled 3-year-old Called to Serve, coming off narrow losses in derbies in West Virginia and Oklahoma, will make his New York debut Sunday in the $85,000 Temperence Hill Stakes at Belmont Park.

The Temperence Hill, run at 1 1/8 miles, drew a field of six – but likely will run with less – and is a stepping-stone to the Grade 3, $150,000 Discovery at Aqueduct on Nov. 17.

Duntle, the talented Ireland-based filly who had been considered a strong candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, will not start in the Breeders’ Cup, according to a representative of the International Racing Bureau.

Ridasiyna, winner of the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp Oct. 7, is expected to make her next start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf Nov. 2, according to Adrian Beaumont of the International Racing Bureau.

Owned by The Aga Khan, Ridasiyna earned an expense-paid Breeders’ Cup berth in taking the Prix de l’Opera, a Win and You’re In challenge race. She was not immediately committed to the Filly and Mare Turf, however, as her connections considered other races, including the Japan Cup.

Daily Racing Form will be the title sponsor of the Paulick Report’s fourth annual “Breeders’ Cup or Bust” promotion, a cross-country fundraising drive by the website’s founders, Ray Paulick and Brad Cummings, the company announced Thursday.

A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the former racehorse owner Michael Gill and his trainer Anthony Adamo against the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission that challenged the pair’s ejection from Penn National Race Course in 2010.

Veteran trainer has won such major races as the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the Belmont Stakes, and the Queen’s Plate. He won the 1,000th race of his career when Sultry Season captured the final race at Santa Anita on Oct. 8.

Age: 69

What did it mean to you to win 1,000 races? It was a milestone, for sure, very big for us, because we don’t carry a lot of horses like the bigger barns that have 60, 70, 100 horses. We carry only 25 to 30 in our barn, so it takes a long time to do it, but we do feel pretty good about it.

The “L” that appears in horses’ past performances, signifying that a horse raced on the anti-bleeder medication Lasix, has become so ubiquitous that horseplayers tend to assume its presence.

What will strike anyone perusing the past-performance lines for 2-year-old races in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup is the absence of the “L.”

When Nahrain won last month’s Grade 1 Flower Bowl and Marketing Mix the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 2 logically became the next-race goal for the two fillies.