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.
Keeneland
Track: Fast
Weather: Clear Temp: 32
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Long before the NFL kicked off its schedule of games later that afternoon, a trio of Breeders’ Cup trainers called audibles of their own on a frigid Sunday morning at Keeneland.
Breeders' Cup Sprint favorite Private Zone was scheduled to work from the gate Sunday morning at host track Keeneland, but trainer Jorge Navarro called a late audible, instead working the gelding in a brisk 59 seconds from the pole on the watch of Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch.
Ron Winchell's homebred operation enjoyed a stellar 2014 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita as Kentucky Oaks heroine Untapable won the BC Distaff to secure a divisional championship and multiple graded stakes winner Tapiture finished second in the BC Dirt Mile to repeat winner Goldencents.
ARCADIA, Calif. – With a little help from the stewards, jockey Mario Gutierrez was perfect with five mounts Friday at Santa Anita, the second time in his career he has recorded five victories on a program.
Gutierrez, best known for winning the 2012 Kentucky Derby on I’ll Have Another, had five wins at Hastings Park in British Columbia in May 2008.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Joe Talamo will ride the longshot Hard Aces in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland on Oct. 31, trainer John Sadler said Saturday.
Sadler was in need of a rider for Hard Aces, a Grade 1 winner in June, after jockey Victor Espinoza committed to riding Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Talamo was a leading choice for Sadler because of their recent success together. Earlier this month, Talamo rode the Sadler-trained Ben’s Duchess to a win in the LA Woman Stakes, a prep for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland.
