Santa Anita Park
Friday, Oct. 25, 2019
Weather: Clear
Track: Fast
Temp. 60
ARCADIA, Calif. – Friday morning’s Breeders’ Cup work tab at Santa Anita was pretty much dominated by locally based horses, although it was a Churchill Downs shipper, Dennis’ Moment, who wound up stealing the show as he continues to impress in preparation for next Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Bellavia, a 2-year-old by Honor Code making his first start for trainer Todd Pletcher following a private sale in August, won a six-furlong maiden race by two lengths Wednesday at Belmont Park. He covered six furlongs in 1:11.45 and earned a 77 Beyer Speed Figure.
“It was good, I was happy with it,” Pletcher said. “Didn’t break great, kind of got stuck on the inside there and I thought he handled that pretty professionally, and he won with something in reserve.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Tiz the Law had his second straight strong work since winning the Grade 1 Champagne on Oct. 5, going five furlongs in 1:00.78 on Friday morning over the Belmont Park main track. Tiz the Law is preparing for the Grade 2, $300,000 Kentucky Jockey Club on Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs.
ELMONT, N.Y. – On the comeback trail from disappointing 3-year-old campaigns after winning graded stakes at age 2, Complexity and Instagrand both find themselves in the same second-level allowance race on Sunday’s closing-day card at Belmont Park.
The 6 1/2-furlong race, which goes as race 3, drew a field of eight.
Complexity, trained by Chad Brown for Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables, won the Grade 1 Champagne here in October 2018. After finishing 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Complexity had an ankle chip that needed to be removed.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Horse trainers are humans, too. Wesley Ward can be as robotic as the next guy devoting 100 hours to his workweek, but he’ll also take time to laugh and joke or to smell the flowers, as they say.
In fact, Ward wasn’t even here at Santa Anita in 2014, when his six Breeders’ Cup starters recorded two wins, three seconds, and one third. He was at home in Florida, watching the races on his phone while his son Riley was competing in a high school track meet.
“State championships,” said Ward, underlining the importance.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Maxfield has his game face on.
The Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity winner, who is expected to be among the favorites for next week's Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, turned in his final major work toward that race with a strong half-mile in 47.80 seconds on Friday morning at Keeneland.
"And he looks like he was just out galloping," trainer Brendan Walsh said after Godolphin's homebred colt returned to the barn.
LOUISVILLE, KY. – Jockey Adam Beschizza intends to return to action Nov. 6 at Churchill, exactly four weeks after suffering a broken collarbone in an Oct. 9 spill on the Keeneland turf, according to agent Liz Morris.
Beschizza will ride at Churchill before returning to Fair Grounds for the bulk of a 2019-20 meet, which runs through March 29. Beschizza was the leading rider at the New Orleans track last year with 82 wins.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With trainer Tom Amoss on hand to watch, Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress was sent through her final pre-race breeze toward the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, going a half-mile early Friday in 47.60 seconds at Churchill.
Amoss was released Wednesday from a Louisville hospital following a five-day stay when suffering from complications of appendicitis.
“I came out to the track this morning, but otherwise I’m totally taking it easy,” he said. “It’s been a pretty tough ordeal.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer John Sadler sent out his first Breeders’ Cup runner in 1988, when he was just 32 years old, and even though he lost that year with the sprinter Olympic Prospect, he had to figure that first win would come soon.
