ELMONT, N.Y. – Code of Honor, the Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, worked five furlongs in 1:00.26 Monday morning over a sloppy, sealed Belmont Park main track.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown pre-entered 10 horses Monday for the two-day Breeders Cup World Championships at Santa Anita on Nov. 1-2 and said that while he pre-entered Bricks and Mortar in two races, he is leaning toward starting him in the $4 million Turf rather than the $2 million Mile.
Bricks and Mortar, 5 for 5 this year and a candidate for Horse of the Year, has never run 1 1/2 miles, the distance of the Turf, but the more Brown has watched the horse train, the more he thinks he’ll handle it despite having not run since Aug. 10.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Although it has been a year and a half since Midnight Bisou raced in California, she still has an affinity for the Santa Anita racetrack.
The 4-year-old filly posted an important five-furlong workout early Monday morning under jockey Mike Smith as she prepares for her role as favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Midnight Bisou worked at 6:40 a.m., breaking off at the five-furlong pole with the colt Comedian. She inched ahead of her workmate in deep stretch, and clockers gave her a work time of 1:00.40. Everyone else gave her thumbs-up.
The Downs at Albuquerque closed its traditional meet a month ago, but the track still has one more live program of racing to put on this year. And it’s a significant one – the 27th annual running of the American Quarter Horse Association’s Challenge Championships is returning to New Mexico on Saturday for the first time since 1993.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After a slow and easy work a week ago coming out of her victory in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx on Sept. 21, it was time for Street Band to get a little more serious Monday morning at Churchill Downs.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield is one of three trainers to have won the $225,000 Coronation Futurity five times or more, and he will look for victory number six with Pleasecallmeback on Nov. 23. The Coronation Futurity will be run over 1 1/8-miles on Tapeta for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds and will provide a look at horses who are among the early favorites for next summer’s Queen’s Plate.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The fifth equine fatality of the fall meet occurred Sunday when Call to Victory, ridden by Julien Leparoux, was euthanized after suffering a catastrophic right-foreleg injury on the backstretch of the turf course during the sixth race. Through 13 racing days, this was the third fatality to result from a turf race, with the other two occurring on the main track.
Leparoux was not injured, nor were any other horses or riders.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Bell’s the One, the 13-1 winner of the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes last Saturday, likely will make her next start in the Grade 1 La Brea on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, said trainer Neil Pessin.
Bell’s the One is scheduled to ship Sunday to Pessin’s winter base at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. The daughter of Majesticperfection drew clear late in prevailing by 1 1/4 lengths over First Star, the California-based filly who also will point to the La Brea, according to trainer Ron Ellis.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Irad Ortiz Jr. has been suspended three days for his role in the disqualification of his mount, Elle’s Town, from the fifth race Friday at Keeneland, but the penalty will not keep the star jockey from riding in the upcoming Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita.
Ortiz, the 2018 Eclipse Award-winning jockey based primarily in New York, will serve his days Oct. 27, 30, and 31. The Breeders’ Cup is set for Nov. 1-2.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Guarana, the two-time Grade 1 winning 3-year-old filly, will not race again this year, thus missing a scheduled start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday.
“This week in training out of her last work I just wasn’t happy the way she was moving behind,” Brown said. “I’m going to err on the side of caution and make sure she’s all right.”