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.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – All-sources handle at the 17-day Keeneland meet that ended Saturday was the highest at a fall meet in the 82-year history of the track.
Keeneland officials reported total handle was $144,309,944, surpassing the record $139.7 million set at the 2013 fall meet. The gross and daily average of $8,488,820 were up 18.6 percent over the 2017 fall meet, when $121.7 million was bet during 17 days – although business at that meet was down 8.7 percent compared to 2016, when bettors reacted to a takeout increase that was rescinded in time for the 2018 spring meet.
One unlucky bettor suffered a terribly difficult beat in the Rainbow 6 at Laurel Park on Saturday after the scratch of a horse during the warmup resulted in a live ticket being transferred to race favorite, Confessor, who won. Because of the scratch, Confessor, who had been scheduled to take down the entire Rainbow 6 pool, had two live tickets riding on him in the Rainbow 6, resulting in a Sunday carryover.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Accelerate, McKinzie, and West Coast, three of the leading contenders in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs, all could not have looked better in their final drills for the race on Saturday morning at Santa Anita.
They were three of 11 locally based horses who are scheduled to run in Breeders’ Cup races next weekend who worked on Saturday.
At age 67, jockey Tony Black is on something of a hot streak.
Black won the opening race on Saturday at Parx Racing aboard Lendar, who rallied from far back over a sloppy track to score by 1 1/4 lengths in a conditioned $12,500 claiming sprint. The win was the second for Black in his last three rides.
That does come with a caveat, however. The win also was Black's second of the year from 13 rides. He won his first race of 2018 on Popizar on Sept. 30. Both horses are trained by Richie Vega.
Glorious Empire, the multiple graded stakes-winning 7-year-old gelding, completed preparations for next Saturday’s $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs by working seven furlongs in 1:27.60 over the synthetic surface at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland on Saturday morning.
Trainer James “Chucky” Lawrence II said he caught Glorious Empire’s final eighth in 11.80 seconds. It was Glorious Empire’s sixth workout of six furlongs or longer since he won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer on Aug. 25 at Saratoga.
Lone Sailor will run in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs, trainer Tom Amoss said Saturday, a decision that has major implications regarding the prospective field.
As a result, Seeking the Soul remains the bubble horse, ranked 15th, assuming that City of Light - as expected - goes in the Dirt Mile. City of Light was pre-entered in both races, with the Dirt Mile preferred.
The Classic field has a maximum of 14 runners. Collected needs two defections to get in. Entries are taken Monday, and posts drawn that afternoon.
