Solow, the France-based gelding who is Europe’s leading miler, is definitely not coming for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but the French still should have a major say in the race.
The 2014 Mile winner, Karakontie, based in France with trainer Jonathan Pease, is on course for another Mile start, and earlier this week, trainer Andre Fabre confirmed that he intends to run the mare Esoterique at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – An outstanding field for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint continued to take further definition with several additions and defections in recent days. Uzzili, Leigh Court, No Fault of Mine, and Flutterby all have bowed out of the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint, while the brilliant 3-year-old Super Majesty and the comebacking Artemis Agrotera are foremost among those newly confirmed.
Early this year, Stellar Wind might have been considered among the early favorites for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Not anymore. Trainer John Sadler will get what he hoped for – a low profile.
“I want to go in under the radar,” Sadler said. “My theory is, sometimes the 3-year-olds peak [in fall]. I want to keep her campaign light so I have a stronger chance next year.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – To watch Bob Baffert train American Pharoah since the Travers has been like watching the high-wire act in the movie “The Walk,” for Baffert has had to know when to back off and when to push in order to get American Pharoah to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
Southern California-based trainers Gary Mandella and his father, Richard Mandella, will have horses at the same Breeders’ Cup for the third time in their careers this month at Keeneland. Gary Mandella, 43, has a leading contender for the $1 million Turf Sprint in No Silent, while Richard Mandella, 64, has one of the top choices in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in champion Beholder. Both races are Oct. 31.
The Mandellas previously had Breeders’ Cup starters in the same year in 2005 and 2013.
Postponed’s career on the racetrack has been brilliant in recent months in England and France. Off the track, Postponed has been a subject of surprising headlines.
After winning the Group 2 Prix Foy at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris on Sept. 13, Postponed was rated as a contender for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe there on Oct. 4. He never made the race. In a shocking move in late September, owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum switched the 4-year-old and many other horses from trainer Luca Cumani to Roger Varian in England.
The complexion of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint changed dramatically last week with the loss of two major players, defending champion Work All Week and the once-beaten multiple Grade 1 winner Rock Fall.
Work All Week, the 2014 BC Sprint champion and reigning Eclipse Award winner in the sprint division, was retired after his connections discovered a stress fracture in his right knee shortly after his third-place finish in the Grade 3 Phoenix.
A major player at the Kentucky horse sales, Mandy Pope will seek her first Grade 1 win as an owner at the upcoming Breeders’ Cup.
Since 2012, Pope’s breeding-stock purchases have included Horse of the Year Havre de Grace ($10 million), Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty ($4.2 million), two-time champion female sprinter Groupie Doll ($3.1 million), and Betterbetterbetter ($5.2 million), a Galileo mare purchased in foal to War Front.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Sudden Surprise, the undefeated New York-bred juvenile colt owned and bred by Mike Repole, will make his next start in the $250,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes for statebreds on Oct. 24, trainer Todd Pletcher said Monday.
Pletcher worked Sudden Surprise on the Belmont turf Monday to see if it would be worth considering the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf for him. But Sudden Surprise was outworked badly by Capriana, a 3-year-old New York-bred filly.
“Based on what I saw, he prefers dirt,” Pletcher said.
