ARCADIA, Calif. – Abel Tasman at her best wins the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Abel Tasman when she doesn’t show up won’t come close.
The bad Abel Tasman was on display in the Zenyatta last time out, when she finished a dull fifth of six as the 1-10 favorite, but she looked like her old self on Friday morning at Santa Anita when working in company with stablemate Vale Dori, both ticketed to the Distaff at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Pavel owns a win over the Churchill Downs track in the Stephen Foster, an angle that makes him a live runner Nov. 3 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, for which he worked six furlongs in 1:14.80 on Friday morning at Santa Anita under his regular rider Mario Gutierrez.
Pavel worked in company with B Squared, who is under consideration for one of four Breeders’ Cup races – the Mile, Dirt Mile, Sprint, and Turf Sprint. He, too, went in 1:14.80, with Evin Roman up, and stayed in front of Pavel throughout.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Victor Espinoza is still hoping to return to riding, and now has targeted the beginning of the Santa Anita winter meeting on Dec. 26 for his comeback, his agent, Brian Beach, said Friday morning.
Espinoza has been out of action since early in the Del Mar meeting, when he was seriously injured in a training accident when the sprinter Bobby Abu Dhabi died. Beach said Espinoza was desirous of returning by the end of October, but doctors want him to wait.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mind Your Biscuits had his first breeze since a 4 3/4-length victory in the Sept. 29 Lukas Classic at Churchill before dawn Friday, going five furlongs in 1:00.40 over a fast Churchill track with Tyler Gaffalione up.
Trainer Chad Summers said afterward a decision could be imminent on which Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup race – the Classic, Dirt Mile, or Sprint – will be chosen for Mind Your Biscuits, whose $4.28 million bankroll is the highest all-time for a New York-bred.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Angel Montano didn’t make the trip Thursday to Keeneland to saddle Dapper Sam, the latest winner in his remarkable training career. Montano recently turned 78 and has trouble getting around, owing to a bum hip and other maladies, so he watched on TV from his Louisville condominium.
Diversify, the Grade 1 Whitney winner who finished fifth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, will not run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, owner Ralph Evans said Thursday night.
Evans said a number of factors went into the decision including the health of trainer Rick Violette, who has been hospitalized for the past few weeks with an illness, Diversify’s poor performance in the Gold Cup and the horse’s previous poor experience at Churchill Downs.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Divine Miss Grey, the runner-up to Wow Cat in the Grade 1 Beldame last Saturday, is under consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, trainer Danny Gargan said Wednesday.
Immediately after the Beldame, Gargan dismissed the Breeders’ Cup, but he has had a change of heart.
“I think the Distaff is going to come up an easy race,” Gargan said. “She came out of [the Beldame] so good, I’m considering it.”
Gargan also said the Grade 2, $200,000 Chilukki going a one-turn mile at Churchill on Nov. 3 is being considered.
Discreet Lover, winner of the Grade 1 Jockey Gold Cup 11 days ago, worked a half-mile at Parx Racing on Wednesday morning and is expected to be removed from the veterinarian's list when his blood work returns, according to trainer Uriah St. Lewis.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and earned Discreet Lover a fees-paid berth in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After winning four stakes last weekend at Belmont Park, trainer Christophe Clement is hoping to keep the momentum going with major contenders in Saturday’s two turf stakes at Belmont.
Clement will send out Victorine in the $200,000 Pebbles Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile and Lull in the $100,000 Floral Park Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs.
If you were looking for clarity in the Breeders’ Cup Mile three weeks out from the race – well, keep on peering into the fog.
In the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile on Oct. 6 at Keeneland the top three betting choices finished fourth, eighth, and 11th. Next Shares, a 23-1 shot, came through a gaping hole along the rail at the top of the stretch and powered home to win by 4 1/2 lengths. “Powered” probably is the wrong word. Over a course rated good, it took Next Shares almost 24.75 seconds to run his final quarter-mile, a relative eternity by top-class turf-mile standards.
