Brad Cox’s key contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Breeders’ Cup Distaff will follow different paths to Del Mar.
When Highland Falls, all being well, runs in the Classic, he’ll race for the first time since a surprisingly dominant victory Sept. 1 in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Idiomatic, before she attempts to repeat in the Distaff, will have a go at landing her second straight Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, Cox said this week.
Glenn Delahoussaye, whose stable has been a mainstay in South Louisiana for more than 40 years, is retiring from training at the end of the month, he said Wednesday.
Delahoussaye plans to remain active in the industry as an adviser to clients and on Friday will be working the Breeders Sales of Louisiana yearling auction and mixed session in Opelousas, La.
He said his owners are in the process of turning over the racing-age horses in his care to his longtime assistant, Jason Faul. Delahoussaye, 67, said the decision to retire from training was not made overnight.
Proven at a mile on dirt at Saratoga last month, the 5-year-old gelding Big Blue Line will have a radically different assignment on the other side of the country in Saturday’s Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita.
For the third time in his career, Big Blue Line will start on grass. The $750,000 John Henry Turf Championship will be his stakes debut on the surface at a new distance of 1 1/4 miles.
Adare Manor, the dominant older female in California the last 18 months, has been retired, trainer Bob Baffert said in a text message on Wednesday afternoon.
Adare Manor is scheduled to be sold at the Fasig-Tipton November sale in Kentucky on Nov. 4. Adare Manor’s retirement was first reported by the Thoroughbred Daily News.
Owned by Michael Lund Petersen, Adare Manor won 10 of 18 starts and earned $2,096,600 in a career highlighted by eight stakes wins, including three at the Grade 1 level.
Part of trainer Peter Miller’s base at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in Bonsall, Calif., is under quarantine after a horse in his care was euthanized Tuesday at a veterinary clinic following a diagnosis of equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious disease, according to California equine medical director Jeff Blea.
Miller’s operation has more than one physical barn at San Luis Rey Downs. The quarantined runners represent a segment of the stable’s overall setup. Miller has a small number of horses based at Santa Anita that are not affected.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Full Serrano, who was second in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 31, is a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 2 after being withdrawn from consideration for Saturday’s Grade 1 California Crown at Santa Anita because of a recent illness.
Trainer John Sadler said Full Serrano could resume workouts as soon as the end of this month. Full Serrano was beaten a half-length by Mixto in the Pacific Classic at 1 1/4 miles, the American stakes debut for the 5-year-old Argentine-bred.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday will be take two for the 3-year-old filly Sugar Fish in an important stakes against older fillies and mares.
Sugar Fish won the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita in June by 9 3/4 lengths, but was sixth by 11 1/2 lengths in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes against older fillies and mares at Del Mar on Aug. 3 after a wide trip.
“It took her a long time to get over that race,” trainer Jeff Mullins said recently.
The lone 3-year-old, and only shipper, in Saturday’s Grade 2 City of Hope Mile on turf at Santa Anita is the millionaire Trikari who has shown rapid improvement since early spring.
Trikari has won four stakes at four different tracks in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia by racing near the front or from slightly off the pace.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When someone would ask Adrianne DeVaux when she would begin training horses on her own, her answer was always the same.
“Just give me five years,” said DeVaux, the younger sister of trainer Cherie DeVaux.
Well, that timeline has been pushed up a bit. Saturday, at Aqueduct, Adrianne DeVaux, 26, will send out her first starter when she runs the 2-year-old Shoot the Nickel in a maiden race for horses that sold for $50,000 or less at auction or did not reach their reserve of $50,000 or less.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Filoso, a maiden winner at Saratoga this summer, is heading to the Breeders’ Futurity to take advantage of the two turns.
“The two turns made the most sense,” said Chad Summers, who trains Filoso for owner Al Gold. “Is there an eye towards the Breeders’ Cup? Of course, but there’s also an eye toward his 3-year-old campaign. You want to see where you’re at and where you stack up.”
After finishing fourth on debut July 20, Filoso, a son of City of Light, won a one-mile maiden race by 3 1/2 lengths on Aug. 29 at Saratoga.
