The group stakes winner Nyaleti, the unbeaten Gavota, and the stakes-placed Butterscotch are three leading contenders for Friday’s Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in England, a race with implications for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 3 at Del Mar.
The winner of the $146,000 Rockfel Stakes at a straightaway seven furlongs receives a fees-paid berth in the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf at a mile.
The Rockfel has several contenders but lacks a heavy favorite.
John Jones, a son of Smarty Jones, began his career by going 3 for 14 over a 15-month period. In his second incarnation, he went 5 for 6 in five months. In the near future, John Jones will begin his third act.
When trainer Lacey Gaudet claimed him for $25,000 in July 2016 on behalf of Matt Schera, John Jones was not a hot commodity. Sent off at 9-2 in that Laurel Park race, he finished fourth.
Gaudet brought John Jones back in the Mister Diz Stakes, a six-furlong turf sprint for Maryland-breds at Laurel. He turned heads with a wire-to-wire score at 43-1.
As Breeders’ Cup season draws near, horsemen must look at the cards in their hand and decide how they’re going to play them.
For the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Frank and Patricia Generazio hold a pair of potential aces in Pure Sensation and Disco Partner. The former won a major prep for the Turf Sprint in his most recent start, the Grade 3 Turf Monster Handicap at Parx Racing, while the latter set the world record for six furlongs on turf in the Grade 3 Jaipur Invitational Stakes earlier this year. Both are homebreds for the Generazios and are trained by Christophe Clement.
The Monmouth-at-Meadowlands all-turf meet had strong handle on its opening weekend and was up 29.4 percent from a year ago.
Opening-night handle on Friday was $1.32 million, up 40.8 percent from the $938,196 wagered in 2016. The Friday handle was up 26.8 percent from opening night in 2015 and 58 percent from 2014.
Weather was ideal over the weekend and the turf was firm. In 2014 and 2016, the turf also was firm on opening night. In 2015, it was yielding. Six-horse fields have long been the standard at the meet.
The Friday card at Laurel includes a strong sequence of races that are part of both the late pick five, which has a 12 percent takeout, and the Rainbow 6, which has a carryover of $1,818.
There also is a carryover of $3,089 on the rolling Super Hi 5’s, which begin on race 1.
Races 6-9 on the 10-race card are a 2-year-old filly maiden turf sprint; a first-level optional claimer at a mile for 2-year-olds; a second-level optional-claiming turf sprint; and a third-level optional claimer at 5 1/2 furlongs on grass for fillies and mares.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Big World fired a bullet work Monday at Churchill Downs when going five furlongs in 59 seconds, but trainer Tom Amoss isn’t yet committing the Louisiana-bred filly to the Grade 1 Spinster on Oct. 8 at Keeneland.
“We’re going to evaluate the probables,” said Amoss.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fifty-three trainers have won two or more Breeders’ Cup races, and Buff Bradley is one of them. Bradley scored in 2012 and 2013 at Santa Anita with Groupie Doll in the BC Filly and Mare Sprint, pulling him even with Hall of Famers such as Charlie Whittingham, Leroy Jolley, and Nick Zito.
Such comparisons are not necessarily meaningful, sure, but that isn’t keeping Bradley from wanting to return to California this year with a Breeders’ Cup horse or two.
Five weeks out, the field for $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar still may need a few tweaks. The two final preps are set for the weekend of Oct. 7-8, and the first major defection was announced this week.
The likely Filly and Mare Sprint favorite Unique Bella continues to train forwardly to the Oct. 8 L.A. Woman at Santa Anita. Likewise for Finley’sluckycharm, who will look to further entrench herself as one of the top Filly and Mare Sprint contenders by prepping in the Oct. 7 Thoroughbred Club of America at Keeneland.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Arrogate looked like his old self at Santa Anita on Tuesday morning, when he went five furlongs in 59.40 seconds and galloped out with enthusiasm, with jockey Rafael Bejarano bringing him all the way around to the furlong pole - a full six furlongs after the work ended.
"That was good for him," trainer Bob Baffert said after the drill, the second for Arrogate since a brief freshening following his second-place finish in the Pacific Classic. "I can sleep tonight. He did it the right way."
OKLAHOMA CITY – Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said before the Oklahoma Derby that a good race from Battle of Midway would put the multiple stakes winner on a path to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 3 at Del Mar. Battle of Midway ran his race Sunday when second to Untrapped, and Hollendorfer said Monday that the horse looked good following the start and the plan is to proceed to the Dirt Mile.
“I thought he ran a real good race,” Hollendorfer said.
