Fri, 10/23/2015 - 14:42

Big Business returns in Sunday sprint allowance

Chelsea Durand/NYRA
Big Business, who won the Alex M. Robb Stakes last December, will make his first start in eight months Sunday.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Big Business, away from the races since February, returns Sunday in a $90,000 allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs. The race looked like it was written for El Kabeir, but the multiple-graded-stakes-winning 3-year-old was not entered.

Big Business, who won the Alex M. Robb Stakes on Dec. 31, finished fifth Feb. 16 in the Grade 3 General George Handicap at Laurel. It was his second straight fifth-place finish, and Big Business was given a break.

Fri, 10/23/2015 - 14:38

Tencendur cleared to return to training

Debra A. Roma
Tencendur, who hasn't run since June's Ohio Derby, is back in training at Saratoga.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Tencendur, runner-up in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial and the Ohio Derby, recently rejoined trainer George Weaver’s barn at Saratoga after being sidelined for the summer due to a chipped sesamoid bone.

“His ankle looks great,” said Weaver. “There was no suspensory damage. We got clearance to go back into training. He showed signs of being a horse, and we’re looking forward to him coming back as a 4-year-old.”

Weaver said Tencendur probably would move to south Florida before year’s end, but he still is eligible for all of his New York-bred allowance conditions.

Fri, 10/23/2015 - 14:38

U.K. champion jockey De Sousa set to ride in U.S.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Silvestre de Sousa has gone from hunted to hunter.

De Sousa, champion jockey in the United Kingdom for 2015 with 132 victories, made his first visit Friday morning to Belmont Park, where he intends to start riding next week. Along with his agent, Seth Benzel, de Sousa was making the rounds Friday and trying to drum up business for his attempt at succeeding in North America.

Fri, 10/23/2015 - 14:32

Turf Sprint: Holy Lute placed on pre-entries for correct race

Keeneland/Coady Photography
Holy Lute needs several more defections to get into the field for the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint..

Holy Lute, who was listed in pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint but was meant for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, has been moved to the list of pre-entries for the Turf Sprint, according to both the horse’s connections and an official with Breeders’ Cup. The Grade 1, $1 million Turf Sprint will be run Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Final entries for the race will be drawn Monday.

Fri, 10/23/2015 - 14:32

La Verdad, Palace unlikely to run in Breeders’ Cup

Barbara D. Livingston
La Verdad will run in Saturday's Iroquois at Belmont, making it unlikely she will come back a week later to run in either the Breeders' Cup Sprint or Filly and Mare Sprint.

ELMONT, N.Y. – It appears as though trainer Linda Rice is going to sit out the Breeders’ Cup.

Rice had pre-entered both La Verdad and Palace to Breeders’ Cup races next weekend, but said Friday that she intended to run both in stakes races at Belmont Park this Saturday instead.

Fri, 10/23/2015 - 14:27

Classic: Longshots Frosted, Hard Aces work well

Barbara D. Livingston
Classic contender Beholder, with trainer Richard Mandella, is doing well after galloping 1 1/4 miles Friday at Keeneland.

Frosted and Hard Aces, who will try to pull off an upset in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland, both turned in their final Breeders’ Cup works on Friday, a day when Beholder had a good day both on the track and off at Keeneland.

Frosted has been training in Saratoga at the private Greentree facility owned by Sheikh Mohammed. On Friday, he went a half-mile in 47 seconds, with a final quarter in 23.80, and galloped out five furlongs in 59.20, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Dave Norton.

Fri, 10/23/2015 - 14:08

Breeders’ Cup gives horsemen more time to finalize decisions

With some horsemen wanting more time to ponder their options with cross-entered horses for Breeders’ Cup races, officials have decided to give them until entry time at 10 a.m. Eastern on Monday to finalize which race they are going to choose, said Josh Christian, director of racing for the Breeders’ Cup.

Breeders’ Cup officials had intended to have the connections of these horses decide by midday Friday, a change in procedure from past years.

Fri, 10/23/2015 - 13:07

Turf Sprint: Ageless withdrawn due to leg laceration

Keeneland/Coady Photography
Ageless sustained a gash to a hind leg winning the Franklin County Stakes on Oct. 9.

Ageless will not run in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Oct. 31 at Keeneland, trainer Arnaud Delacour said on Friday.

She is the second known defection from the oversubscribed race. Obviously is passing the Turf Sprint in favor of the Breeders’ Cup Mile, according to his trainer, Phil D’Amato. Both horses were listed in the body of the field when pre-entries were announced Wednesday, and their defections open up spots for the next two horses on the selection committee preference list, Marchman and Stacked Deck.

Fri, 10/23/2015 - 13:02

Juvenile Fillies: Rachel’s Valentina sparkles in workout

Barbara D. Livingston
Rachel's Valentina breezes five furlongs in 1:01.27 on Friday at Keeneland.

Trainer Todd Pletcher intended to keep Rachel’s Valentina to her normal routine by working the Grade 1-winning 2-year-old filly in company – and, on paper, he did just that. But the regally bred Rachel’s Valentina, among the favorites for next week’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, turned the move into a solo exhibition.

Fri, 10/23/2015 - 13:02

Filly/Mare Sprint: Dettori picks up mount on Judy the Beauty

Barbara D. Livingston
Frankie Dettori will replace Mike Smith aboard Judy the Beauty in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Owner-trainer Wesley Ward said that Frankie Dettori will replace Mike Smith as the jockey aboard Judy the Beauty in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

Judy the Beauty, now 6, ran second to Groupie Doll in the 2013 Filly and Mare Sprint with Luis Saez riding and won the 2014 running with Smith up, both at Santa Anita.

“Frankie and I have just been so lucky together I thought I’d give this a try,” said Ward at Keeneland. “He’s got the magic touch, at least for me.”