ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Prominent Canadian owner and breeder Jim Sapara died last Thursday, trainer Josie Carroll said. The trainer didn’t know his age or cause of death.
“I’ve trained for him for 18 years,” she said. “He’s got a pretty big history in the game.”
A successful businessman in western Canada, Sapara and his wife, Alice, initially started Winsong Farms as a hobby in 1975. Carroll and the Saparas teamed up to win their first Queen’s Plate with Edenwold in 2006.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After Grade 3 wins against males in the Canadian Derby and British Columbia Derby, Academic will tackle older fillies and mares in the Grade 3, $150,000 Maple Leaf Stakes at Woodbine on Oct. 31, trainer Reade Baker said.
The Maple Leaf covers 1 1/4 miles on Polytrack. Justin Stein, who has ridden Academic in each of her three stakes wins this year, retains the mount, Baker said.
Trainer Bill Mott, who said he'll have a trio of Breeders’ Cup pre-entries, sent a pair of those runners out to work Monday at host track Keeneland.
Mott worked the 2-year-old filly Harmonize in company with Grade 1 winner Seek Again shortly after the morning maintenance break. Harmonize, who earned an automatic berth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf with her win in the Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland, finished her four furlongs in 48.89 seconds, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. Seek Again stopped the timer in 49.19.
Trainer Chad Brown and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. teamed up to win four races on Sunday’s card at Belmont Park, extending their lead to almost insurmountable levels in their respective standings with two weeks remaining in the meet.
The dynamic duo teamed up to win four of the last six races on Sunday’s 10-race program.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Triple Crown winner American Pharoah will be on the last plane out from California for the Breeders’ Cup after working twice more at Santa Anita.
He was scheduled to work Tuesday and to come back the following Monday, Oct. 26, before traveling Oct. 27 to Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. The BC Classic will be the final start of his career.
Masochistic, fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 3, worked five furlongs in 59.40 seconds on Sunday, his second-to-last workout before the BC Sprint on Oct. 31.
The workout was the fastest of 52 recorded works at the distance over a track that has not produced particularly quick times in recent mornings.
“It was fast for the way the track is,” trainer Ron Ellis said. “He was comfortable the whole way.”
Big John B will start in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland on Oct. 31 with a 10-week gap since his win in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Aug. 22. That could be the longest break between starts for any of the runners in the BC Turf field, an issue that does not concern trainer Phil D’Amato.
D’Amato said he has geared Big John B’s season for the BC Turf, and is convinced he had a tired gelding last year when Big John B finished ninth in the BC Turf at Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Songbird will be one of the shortest prices of the day on Oct. 31 when she starts in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland.
Judging from her recent workouts, and the thoughts of trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, Songbird should prove tough to beat in the championship race for 2-year-old fillies. Hollendorfer is far from a boastful trainer. A simple statement regarding Songbird, such as “We like the way she’s coming into the Juvenile Fillies,” may seem bland when spoken by some trainers, but not from Hollendorfer. It’s an endorsement.
ELMONT, N.Y. - As it pertained to the Breeders’ Cup, it was all about the turf Sunday at Belmont Park with 11 horses with designs on running in a Breeders’ Cup grass race in less than two weeks putting in workouts on a cold, clear morning on Long Island.
Eight of those horses utilized the Belmont turf course for their works while three others breezed on dirt. Some of the 11 are not guaranteed a spot in the Breeders’ Cup and may not find out their fate until pre-entries are announced on Wednesday.
