Catch a Glimpse will take advantage of the expenses-paid berth in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf that she earned by winning the Grade 2 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine on Sept. 12.
Trained by Mark Casse, the Kentucky-bred daughter of City Zip controlled the Win and You’re In, one-mile race on turf right from the start. The 89 Beyer Speed Figure she earned is the highest figure given to any 2-year-old running on grass in North America this year.
At this early juncture, the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland on Oct. 31 has the look of a classic East vs. West matchup.
Songbird’s 5 1/4-length romp in the Del Mar Debutante made her the clear leader of the West Coast division. She will be a heavy favorite for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in the Grade 1 Chandelier at Santa Anita on Saturday.
At this point of the season, the 2-year-old divisions are very much works in progress. The field for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf is no exception, with the most pressing question just over five weeks out being: Which Europeans will show up?
Of the eight winners of the Juvenile Turf since the race was added to the Breeders’ Cup program in 2007, six made their final prior start outside of North America, including the last four. This includes last year’s winner, Hootenanny, who was based in Kentucky for Wesley Ward but campaigned extensively in Europe as a juvenile.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Stellar Wind’s first start against older fillies and mares will be in Kentucky. The question is – which race?
Stellar Wind is based at Santa Anita, but trainer John Sadler said the 3-year-old filly will skip the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes on Saturday, and run in either the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 4 at Keeneland or train into the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
“I got a little behind the clock,” Sadler said Tuesday. “She got off her feed a little bit, and just a little backed up.”
ARCADIA, Calif. -- Big Macher will enter the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Sprint the same way he went in last year – as a fresh horse. This time, trainer Richard Baltas hopes he is not eliminated at the break. In the 2014 BC Sprint at Santa Anita, he stumbled at the break, trained for the first half-mile, and finished ninth.
“We’re going to work on that,” Baltas said Tuesday morning at Santa Anita, where Big Macher posted an easy 48-second half-mile workout under jockey Rafael Bejarano.
The fourth race at Parx on Monday was a typical $15,000 restricted claiming race until upper stretch, at which point jockey Angel Castillo appeared to lose his whip and then either take or be handed the whip of Pierre Hernandez-Ortega, with whom he was racing in tight quarters.
Castillo went on to hit his mount 16 times with the whip after the incident and was up to finish second in the 1 1/16-mile race. Hernandez-Ortega’s mount, Distant Thoughts, tired to finish sixth.
The field for the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby was beginning to take shape on Monday, with Tale of Verve and Souper Colossal part of a large group anticipated for the 1 1/8-mile race this Sunday. The Oklahoma Derby is the highlight of the Remington Park meet and will anchor a card of seven stakes worth more than $1 million. Entries for the program will be taken on Thursday.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After initially saying she didn’t think Palace could make Saturday’s Grade 1 Vosburgh, trainer Linda Rice has reversed course and now believes her Grade 1-winning sprinter will be ready for the six-furlong stepping-stone to the Breeders’ Cup.
Palace, who suffered a significant foot injury when he stumbled at the start of the John Morrissey Stakes on July 30, worked five furlongs in 59.85 seconds Sunday over Belmont’s training track.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher had several options for Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Beldame Stakes but elected to go with the 3-year-old filly Curalina in the 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares.
Curalina won the Grade 1 Acorn over this track in June and then was elevated to first in the Coaching Club American Oaks after getting bumped by I’m a Chatterbox nearing the wire. Curalina finished third behind Embellish the Lace and I’m a Chatterbox in the Grade 1 Alabama.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Dame Dorothy won seven of her first nine races and hadn’t finished worse than third in her two losses. Sent off as the 7-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 29 at Saratoga, Dame Dorothy was a no-show, finishing sixth behind Unbridled Forever.
Still not sure what went wrong, trainer Todd Pletcher has decided to forge on with the Bobby Flay-owned 4-year-old filly, and she will run in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap.
