LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Chad Summers is poised to saddle a horse for a Churchill Downs race for the first time, but this is hardly his first visit to the historic track.
Summers, 33, has attended a half-dozen runnings of the Kentucky Derby since 2001, when he and his father and brother ventured as novice fans from their Long Island, N.Y., home to sit in the rafters of Sec. 325, high across from the quarter pole.
His vantage point, you might say, has improved substantially since then.
Glorious Empire, winner of the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes on Aug. 25 at Saratoga, will spend the early weeks of autumn being prepared for the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.
There will be no prep races, such as Saturday’s Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park, only regular exercise at trainer Chuck Lawrence’s base at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. Lawrence and Matt Schera, who owns the 7-year-old gelding, considered the Hirsch, but think Glorious Empire will be better with a longer gap between races.
Three times in the last four years, champion trainer Chad Brown has walked into the winner’s circle after the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. With four victories, Brown is the winningest trainer in the 10-year history of the race, having also won the inaugural running at Santa Anita in 2008.
What do we know about the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf with just five weeks until the 12th edition of the race? Not much.
North American 2-year-old turf form remains murky and it will be a couple of weeks before European horse folks sort out which juveniles will be pointed toward Churchill Downs, where the Juvenile Turf is contested over one mile on Nov. 2.
Accelerate this year already has taken down the Santa Anita Handicap, Gold Cup at Santa Anita, and Pacific Classic. His trainer, John Sadler, hopes to make it a grand slam of 1 1/4-mile races on Nov. 3 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, victory in which would guarantee Accelerate an Eclipse Award as champion older dirt male.
“It’s why I’m here every day, even when I’m sick,” Sadler said this week at Santa Anita as he trudged through the stable area while fighting off a cold. “The horse is so solid. You just hope to continue to have good luck along the way.”
The turn of the season to fall traditionally signals the time for 3-year-olds to graduate to facing their elders. That collision course looks especially meaningful in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff – this year restored to the Saturday program – which will feature a stellar group of 3-year-old fillies, led by Kentucky Oaks winner Monomoy Girl.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita will launch a 20-cent jackpot pick six with the start of its 22-day autumn meeting on Friday, a season highlighted by Breeders’ Cup prep races over the next two weekends.
The Rainbow 6 has been popular at sister track Gulfstream Park and is being tried in Southern California for the first time on Friday. The entire pool is paid out if there is a single winner. If there is more than one winning ticket, 30 percent of the pool after takeout is carried over until there is a single winning ticket, or until a mandatory payout day.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A quarter crack and ensuing foot abscess has derailed Tatters to Riches, the California-based stakes winner who would have been among the favorites in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday at Remington Park.
Trainer Jeff Mullins confirmed Wednesday that Tatters to Riches would not travel, and will be out of serious training until recovering from an abscess in his left front.
“If it was just a quarter crack, he’d probably be training already,” Mullins said. “With the abscess, it’s going to take longer.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Weekend Hideaway, a New York-bred sprinter who won stakes races in seven consecutive years, has been retired from racing after being injured in his most recent workout, trainer Phil Serpe said Wednesday.
Serpe said Weekend Hideaway sustained a fracture of the inside sesamoid in a front leg. Weekend Hideaway had worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 on Saturday over Belmont’s main track.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than the host site is changing when the Breeders’ Cup moves to Churchill Downs in early November. Also coming are several changes to race distances, notably in the Nov. 3 Filly and Mare Turf, which goes from last year’s 1 1/8-mile distance at Del Mar to a three-turn, 1 3/8-mile race at Churchill.
