ARCADIA, Calif. – Breeders’ Cup prep season ended sooner this year for Stellar Wind and Forever Unbridled, the 5-year-old mares aiming for another shot at the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff Nov. 3 at Del Mar.
The early favorites for the Distaff, they will enter with unconventional campaigns. Who needs a prep race? Stellar Wind and Forever Unbridled do not.
Stellar Wind’s most recent start was July 30. She will enter the Distaff following a 97-day layoff. No problem.
The West Coast-based contingent for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 3 at Del Mar is led by Mor Spirit and Accelerate. The East Coast’s best hope could emerge Saturday in the Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park.
The eight-program Monmouth at Meadowlands all-turf meet begins Friday and will continue through Oct. 28.
Racing will be held Friday and Saturday this week and next, then on Saturdays in October. First post will be 7 p.m. Eastern, except for the final card, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. Six-race cards are planned.
Since the meet is turf-only, the races are weather dependent. The forecast for this weekend calls for dry conditions.
For the fourth time in five starts, Salty drew the outside post position for the Grade 1 Cotillon at Parx on Saturday. She will break from the 12 hole in the 1 1/16-mile race, one slot farther out than favored Abel Tasman, who will be shooting for her fourth consecutive Grade 1 win.
The Cotillion will be the fourth time Salty takes on Abel Tasman this year. She finished fifth to her in the Kentucky Oaks, second in the Acorn, and third to her in the Coaching Club American Oaks.
In each of the last two years, New York trainer Chad Brown has had multiple starters in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf. Each time, Brown had a runner finish in the top three behind a winner trained by Aidan O’Brien of Ireland.
Brown’s objective for this year’s $4 million BC Turf on Nov. 4 at Del Mar is to reverse the storyline. His stable arguably has the best chance for an American-based winner, but once again is expected to face a formidable group of European imports.
CYPRESS, Calif. – Run Away, who finished third in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 4, will be a heavy favorite in Saturday’s $100,000 Barretts Juvenile at Los Alamitos, a race rival trainer Gary Sherlock is approaching with numbers.
Sherlock said Wednesday morning that he intends to run two horses – Smokem, who finished second in two stakes for California-bred 2-year-olds at Del Mar, and the maiden Time for Cioppino.
Terry Lovingier bred both runners and owns Smokem in a partnership. Lovingier owns Time for Cioppino with Sherlock.
Apprentice jockey Laura Werner faces approximately eight weeks of recovery after suffering a broken collarbone in a spill Sunday at Los Alamitos, according to her agent, Carolyn Conley.
Werner, 21, was unseated when Dressed in Prada stumbled a few strides away from the gate in Sunday’s third race. Werner was hospitalized briefly on Sunday and was scheduled to have surgery Thursday to have a plate and screw placed in the collarbone to stabilize the injury, Conley said in a text message.
California Diamond, a four-time stakes winner on dirt, looks like he is about to switch surfaces.
Trainer Peter Miller said Tuesday that California Diamond may run in the Grade 3 Eddie D Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course Sept. 29 at Santa Anita. The $100,000 Eddie D Stakes is the feature race on the opening day of the track’s autumn meeting.
Midnight Storm is likely to run in a one-mile race during the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 3-4 at Del Mar. A start in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on dirt Sept. 30 at Santa Anita could determine whether the BC Dirt Mile or BC Mile on turf is chosen for the seven-time stakes winner.
Last year, in one of the more thrilling Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita, Lady Eli was edged a nose by the European Queen’s Trust in the Filly and Mare Turf. The loss denied Lady Eli a second Breeders’ Cup triumph, following a score in the Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2014.
When the Filly and Mare Turf is renewed Nov. 4 at Del Mar, once again Lady Eli is likely to face challengers from abroad. Already, two European fillies, Ashiana and Hydrangea, have earned free berths by winning Breeders’ Cup Challenge races, and another, Birdie Gold, did so by winning a stakes race in Peru.
