LEXINGTON, Ky. – Bourbon Courage, an impressive winner of a 6 1/2-furlong allowance last Friday, will target the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Nov. 29 at Aqueduct, trainer said Kellyn Gorder.
“We may or may not get another race into him before then, depending on what’s available,” said Gorder.
ARCADIA, Calif. – There are big goals around trainer Bob Baffert’s stable for Fascinating, the Grade 1-placed 3-year-old filly who returns from a yearlong layoff in a maiden race at Santa Anita on Friday.
“The plan is to win numerous Grade 1’s,” Baffert said somewhat facetiously Wednesday.
On Friday, Fascinating starts in a one-mile race for fillies and mares. The maiden race will be her first start since a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes here in September 2013. For Baffert, the coming months present an opportunity to showcase Fascinating’s ability.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Jockey Rajiv Maragh, who broke his arm in a spill in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, was told by doctors that he could possibly get clearance to get on horses beginning Oct. 24. If that’s the case, then he could be ready in time for the Breeders’ Cup.
It remains to be seen if any trainers wait for him. Maragh rode Artemis Agrotera in her last two races, but trainer Mike Hushion said Tuesday he has tabbed Jose Ortiz to ride in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The late entries Sistas Stroll and Speed Seeker are among the nine 3-year-old fillies set to clash Saturday in the sixth and last Grade 1 race of the Keeneland fall meet, the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Malcolm Pierce’s last trip to Belmont Park was so productive that he has decided to come back, and he hopes to double his pleasure when he runs horses in a pair of graded stakes here this weekend.
Pierce, based most of the year at Woodbine, will be saddling Up With the Birds in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Knickerbocker Stakes, and Overheard in Sunday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Athenia Stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. – While trainer Rudy Rodriguez might be headed to the Breeders’ Cup with multiple Grade 1 winner Belle Gallantey, he expects to keep two of his other Grade 1 winners home for the fall.
Condo Commando, fourth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Frizette, and Dads Caps, second in the Grade 1 Vosburgh, are expected to make their next starts at Aqueduct.
Freddy Head wasn’t at the Breeders’ Cup last year, which was somewhat surprising since Head, the French jockey turned trainer, has taken part in 12 of the 30 Breeders’ Cups. Quite often, he can be found winning the Mile. He rode Miesque to Mile victories in 1987 and 1988 and trained the great Goldikova to Mile wins in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Goldikova was third in the 2011 Mile, Moonlight Cloud finished eighth in 2012, and Head was out of Breeders’ Cup action in 2013.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The top New York-based candidates for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff will be equine riddles if they ship to California later this month.
Close Hatches baffled everyone last Sunday at Keeneland, finishing fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes. Nonetheless, plans call for Close Hatches to run in the Distaff, Garrett O’Rourke, racing manager for her owner, Juddmonte Farms, said Wednesday.
Cristina’s Journey punched her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies by winning the Grade 2 Pocahontas at Churchill Downs on Sept. 6. She hasn’t raced since, but trainer Dale Romans is comfortable training her up to the Breeders’ Cup and plans to ship her to California on Monday.
With all the final major prep races completed for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita, all that is left now is for the race’s prospects to complete their series of workouts for the Classic, and on Wednesday at Santa Anita, three Classic contenders worked for the first time since their most recent starts.
Bayern, who most recently captured the Pennsylvania Derby, as well as Majestic Harbor and Imperative – who both chased home Shared Belief last time out in the Awesome Again Stakes – all worked a half-mile at Santa Anita.
