LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Even with Seeking the Soul opting out, the Grade 3 Lukas Classic on Sept. 28, the highlight of the September meet, is shaping up a solid race under the Churchill lights. Projected starters for the 1 1/8-mile race include Quip, Silver Dust, Kukulkan, and possibly Pioneer Spirit, among others.
Seeking the Soul, winner of the Stephen Foster here in June, will have his final prep for the Nov. 2 BC Classic in the Grade 1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita earlier in the day.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Of all his many stakes horses, trainer Brad Cox gets asked most about Monomoy Girl, his first champion. But that might be changing.
“Covfefe is second most popular,” said Cox. “Actually, she might even be the most right now, with her name and all the Twitter stuff and everything.”
LOUISVILLE, KY. – America’s Tale, scratched as the morning-line favorite from the Open Mind last Saturday at Churchill, will make her next start in the Oct. 5 Thoroughbred Club of America at Keeneland, said trainer Bernie Flint.
America’s Tale was scratched by the state veterinarian because of what Flint said was a “spot on her front left hoof where she must’ve stepped on something.”
“She’s just fine now,” he said. “It was like a stone bruise, I guess, and I was going to scratch her anyway.”
Plans have been set for two of trainer Steve Asmussen’s trio of Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes runners, the dominant Hopeful winner Basin and runner-up Shoplifted.
Basin is being pointed to the Grade 1, $500,000 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland on Oct. 5, Asmussen said Monday.
Asmussen said that one of the reasons the Breeders’ Futurity makes sense for Basin is how well he trained over Keeneland’s main track in the spring.
“He excelled there,” Asmussen said.
Code of Honor and Tacitus, the 1-2 finishers from the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24, both put in workouts Sunday morning in preparation for their next meeting in the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Sept. 28.
At Belmont, Code of Honor worked a half-mile in 50.71 seconds before galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.84, six furlongs in 1:15.24 and seven furlongs in 1:29.00 according to Daily Racing Form’s Mike Welsch.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Starship Jubilee romped in the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes for the second consecutive year on Saturday afternoon at Woodbine, and trainer Kevin Attard said the 6-year-old mare would be nominated to the Grade 1, $600,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes, which will be run over 1 1/4 miles on turf at Woodbine on Oct. 12.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Sam-Son Farm’s last starter in a Breeders’ Cup race was Grand Adventure, who finished 10th in the 2011 running of the BC Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs, but its red and gold silks could make an appearance at Santa Anita this year following El Tormenta’s win in Saturday’s Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Anonymity will stretch to two turns for the first time in her career on Sept. 29, when she takes on Ollie’s Candy and Secret Spice in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.
Richard Mandella trains Anonymity, who has three wins and five seconds from nine starts, all sprints.
“We’ve always wanted to try her long, and her races this year are looking like we should do that,” Mandella said. “She’s sitting back and finishing.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – While Bob Baffert tightened the screws on Breeders’ Cup candidates McKinzie, Eight Rings, and Bast – all three worked Monday at Santa Anita – two of Baffert’s high-profile runners will miss the remainder of the season.
Game Winner, champion 2-year-old of 2018, is tack-walking at Santa Anita. Marley’s Freedom, among the country’s top female sprinters with six graded wins, was recently turned out. Both will miss the Breeders’ Cup.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Maybe a sweep of the filly-mare stakes last Saturday at Churchill will help restore the graded status of the Groupie Doll at Ellis next year.
Go Google Yourself and Divine Queen, the one-two finishers in the Aug. 11 Groupie Doll at Ellis, were the respective winners Saturday of the Grade 3 Locust Grove and the Open Mind. The latest running of the Groupie Doll (formerly the Gardenia) was the first time in nearly 30 years it had been downgraded from a Grade 3.
