LEXINGTON, Ky. – Runhappy was sent through his first breeze Wednesday here since finishing fourth as a heavy favorite in the Oct. 1 Ack Ack at Churchill, his first start in more than nine months. Runhappy, last year’s sprint champion, went a mile in 1:38.80.
Gary Stevens, who will ride the 4-year-old colt in the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, was flown in from California to be aboard for the work.
“The trip was worth it,” said Stevens.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Long before American Pharoah arrived, and then left, before Dortmund came along, and then Arrogate, too, there has been Hoppertunity, the old reliable of trainer Bob Baffert’s barn.
For the better part of three years now, Hoppertunity has faced the best in the world, and while he only earned his second Grade 1 victory last Saturday in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, he has now won five stakes races, more than $3.5 million, and has earned a fees-paid berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 5.
The Monmouth at Meadowlands all-turf meet will continue this week with evening cards Thursday through Saturday. The New Jersey Thoroughbred season will wrap up next week when the Meadowlands holds afternoon programs Monday through Wednesday.
Post time this week is 7 p.m. Eastern. First post next week is 1:10 p.m.
The reduced takeout on all wagers at the Meadowlands meet is 15 percent.
The Meadowlands had a season-high handle of $1.35 million on its six-race card last Friday and handled $1.16 million on Saturday.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Acapulco was a surprise no-show in the entries for the Franklin County Stakes here Friday, a race that was supposed to serve as a stepping-stone to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint for the 3-year-old filly.
Trainer Wesley Ward said he still intends to make the Nov. 5 Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.
“She came out of her last work a little more tired than I wanted to see,” said Ward. “We’ll just have to go into the Breeders’ Cup without a prep.”
Trainers Jeff Runco and James W. Casey and jockey Antonio Lopez dominated West Virginia Breeders’ Classic night at Charles Town last week.
Runco won the $450,000 Breeders’ Classic with Slip the Cable, the $80,000 Distaff with Spa Creek, and the $75,000 West Virginia Lottery with Bullets Fever.
Bullets Fever, a 3-year-old son of Fiber Sonde, is now undefeated in eight career starts. He was one of two stakes winners on the card for Fiber Sonde, who stands at Beau Ridge Farm.
The Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile picked up a major player this week when trainer Bob Baffert said Dortmund is being pointed to the Nov. 4 race at Santa Anita.
Dortmund has been chasing Breeders’ Cup Classic favorite California Chrome in his last three starts, finishing second to him in the San Diego at Del Mar, third to him in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar, and second to him in the Awesome Again in his most recent start Oct. 1 at Santa Anita.
“That Chrome, he’s tough to beat,” Baffert said. “We took him on – tried off the pace, going with him.”
Deshawn Parker let everyone at Mountaineer know he was back in the saddle Tuesday night, winning with five of his seven mounts. Parker was returning from a 2 1/2-week absence, and the timing couldn’t have been better for Parker’s longtime agent, Billy Johnson, who is hospitalized after being involved in an automobile accident.
Parker injured a foot in a gate mishap Sept. 25 at Mountaineer. He has won 196 races at the meet through Tuesday and leads the rider standings by 42. In May, Parker won the 5,000th race of his career.
Favorite Tale was scratched out of a $90,000, no-conditions allowance sprint at Parx Racing last Saturday due to a foot abscess, according to trainer Lupe Preciado. Favorite Tale was going to use the race as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Preciado said Favorite Tale missed three or four days of training due to the abscess and returned to the track Monday.
“It’s going to take a while to get him right again,” Preciado said. “We missed his prep race last weekend and will not be able to make the Breeders’ Cup.”
Something’s got to give when a stellar field assembles at Santa Anita on Nov. 5 for what may be the most challenging and competitive Breeders’ Cup Sprint in recent memory.
Lord Nelson, A. P. Indian, Joking, and Delta Bluesman, the four Breeders’ Cup Challenge race winners in the division, will enter the Sprint having won 18 of their last 19 starts combined. They’ll be joined in the gate by Drefong and Masochistic, who are a perfect 5 for 5 between them and are both Grade 1 winners in 2016.
