LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Besides the 14 Breeders’ Cup races set for Friday and Saturday at Churchill Downs, four other stakes (two each day) will be run on the respective undercards.
The Friday races are the Grade 2, $200,000 Marathon Stakes, for 3-year-olds and up at the unusual distance of 1 3/4 miles, and the $100,000 Street Sense, for 2-year-olds at a one-turn mile.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than 14 months after winning the Grade 2 Saratoga Special, Copper Bullet finally will return to the races Wednesday as the likely favorite in the Churchill feature, an $82,000 second-level allowance at six furlongs.
“We’re excited about having him back,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “He’s training nice and we think he’s a good horse.”
Copper Bullet was sidelined by a recurring shin problem, Asmussen said. The colt was so impressive in his four races last year that his name was often cited in early discussions toward the 2018 Kentucky Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Vibrance found herself on the early lead before settling for a distant second behind Bellafina when last they met in the Sept. 29 Chandelier at Santa Anita.
But with more speed in the mix for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies – namely, Serengeti Empress and Jaywalk – trainer Michael McCarthy is hoping things will shape up differently for Vibrance.
:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2018: Pre-entries, odds, comments, and more
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No, trainer Mark Casse was not looking ahead to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint prior to Shamrock Rose pulling an 18-1 upset in the Oct. 20 Raven Run at Keeneland.
“I thought we had a big chance in the Raven Run, but you’d have to be a genius to know all this would wind up happening,” said Casse.
:: BREEDERS’ CUP 2018: Pre-entries, odds, comments, and more
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kenny McPeek is 0 for 29 in the Breeders’ Cup, but so what? The late Bobby Frankel, one of the greatest trainers in history, was 0 for 38 before winning the 2001 BC Sprint with Squirtle Squirt.
“We’ve led horses over there and they’ve run big but just got beat,” said McPeek, who has five seconds and eight thirds in BC competitions. “Will it be our turn this year? Hopefully, yes.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If not for an awkward start in her latest outing, Stormy Embrace might be entering the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on a four-race win streak. But the 4-year-old filly was away a step slowly in the Sept. 8 Sheer Drama at Gulfstream Park and finished third.
“The race won’t look very good on paper, but she actually ran really big,” said trainer Kathleen O’Connell. “She just had too much ground to make up.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Enable, the sensational filly who will likely be favored against the boys in Saturday’s $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, made her first visit to the Churchill Downs track Monday morning. She didn’t see very much of it.
Enable, along with the other John Gosden-trained Breeders’ Cup runners – Roaring Lion (Classic) and Legends of War (Juvenile Turf Sprint) – simply jogged in the one-mile chute around 7:30 a.m. after being released from quarantine.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Vasilika and Fahan Mura will meet for the second time in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Santa Anita next Sunday. Both fillies had their final workouts on Sunday.
Vasilika, who won the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes on Sept. 29 for her seventh consecutive victory, worked five furlongs in 1:02.20 for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. Vasilika won the Grade 2 John Mabee Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Del Mar on Sept. 1, a race in which Fahan Mura finished third after setting the pace.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Catapult and Collected worked minutes before dawn at Santa Anita on Sunday in advance of scheduled starts in Breeders’ Cup races on Saturday, although Collected is not certain of a berth in the BC Classic.
Catapult, bound for the BC Mile, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20, the fastest of 71 works at the distance. Trainer John Sadler described the work as “sharp.”
Churchill Downs, Oct. 28
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 45
Track: Fast
Turf: Good
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The action picked up considerably on the Breeders’ Cup front Sunday at Churchill Downs, the large work tab due in part to the inclement weather that affected the track surface the previous two mornings. A total of 20 prospective Breeders’ Cup starters worked throughout the morning, beginning at 5:15 a.m. and ending nearly five hours later with a trio of breezers on the grass.
