The first four finishers from the Awesome Again Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita all could run back in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2.
Mongolian Groom won the race in a 25-1 upset, and though the race is a Win and You’re In for the Classic, Mongolian Groom isn’t technically in just yet since, unlike the five horses he beat on Saturday, he is not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup. His connections would have to put up $200,000 by pre-entry day Oct. 21 to nominate him to the Breeders’ Cup.
Keeneland racetrack in Lexington has hired Dr. George Mundy as its equine safety director, a new position at the track, and promoted its longtime racetrack surface advisor Jim Pendergest to the new position of director of racing surfaces.
The two appointments were announced on Monday, five days prior to opening day of Keeneland’s fall meet, at a time when racing is under criticism from some groups because of growing concern over racetrack deaths.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Rain has been in very short supply in Kentucky for more than a month, just as racing fans in the Bluegrass region have been lacking live action since late April. Hard to say what will be more welcome this week: the start of the Keeneland fall meet on Friday, or a forecasted end to the drought with Sunday rain.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Donna Veloce, the easy winner of a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies on Saturday, may start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.
By Uncle Mo, Donna Veloce led throughout the maiden race and pulled clear in the stretch under jockey Flavien Prat to win by 9 1/4 lengths as a heavy favorite. She ran 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.22 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 91.
“I was very confident,” trainer Simon Callaghan said on Sunday. “We’ll see how she comes out of it, but we’ll look at the Breeders’ Cup.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Three graded stakes wins in a little more than 24 hours gave trainer Phil D’Amato a brilliant start to the Santa Anita autumn meeting on Friday and Saturday. At least two of those winners – and one runner-up from his stable – are being considered for Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 2.
Pee Wee Reese won Friday’s Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes at five furlongs on turf and will be pointed for the BC Turf Sprint at the same distance on Nov. 2. Mirth, the upset winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes on turf, earned an automatic berth to the BC Filly and Mare Turf.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Performer made it three straight wins and proved he can handle a distance of ground when he won a second-level allowance at Belmont on Sunday.
Put on the lead by Joel Rosario, Performer set fractions of 24.09, 47.69, 1:11.42, 1:35.23 and covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.55 while winning by 1 3/4 lengths. He earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.
“New dimension going to the lead like that,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “Joel got off him and said you can do whatever you want with him. The internal fractions were all 23 and change.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Catholic Boy returned to the work tab Sunday at Belmont Park, breezing a half-mile in 47.72 seconds over the outer turf course. Trainer Jonathan Thomas said that he will most likely train Catholic Boy up to the Breeders’ Cup with the options being the Mile on turf or the Dirt Mile. Thomas said he would also keep an eye on the Classic to see how that race is shaping up.
“We’re breezing him on the turf to at least keep [the Mile] under consideration,” Thomas said. “It’s worked for us before where we kind of used the turf to get to races.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Kevin Attard experienced quite a bit of stakes success in September, recording victories with Starship Jubilee in the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes, Amalfi Coast in the Ontario Damsel Stakes, and Pumpkin Rumble in the Alphabet Soup Handicap at Parx.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Prior to Saturday, Abel Cedillo had three career wins in graded stakes. He equaled that number over the weekend at Santa Anita.
Saturday, Cedillo won the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship with Cleopatra’s Strike and the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes with Mongolian Humor. Sunday, he won the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes with Paradise Woods, a mare he is likely to ride in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff here on Nov. 2.
“I feel so awesome,” Cedillo said at the end of Sunday’s program. “I never dreamed of this.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Eddie Haskell, second in Friday’s Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes at five furlongs on turf, will be pointed for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, said trainer Mark Glatt.
Eddie Haskell closed from seventh in a field of eight to finish a half-length behind Pee Wee Reese in the Eddie D Stakes. Eddie Haskell broke from the rail and rallied well through the stretch.
“I think you can say the post beat him,” Glatt said.
