STICKNEY, Ill. – In one afternoon, apprentice jockey Heidi Rose booted home more winners than she had during the first 2 1/2 months of her career.
Paynter, preparing for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, worked in company Monday, but heavy fog obscured all but the final half-furlong of the drill, so track clockers said they were unable to give him an official time.
Paynter is scheduled to have one more work prior to the Classic.
Bob Baffert, who trains Paynter, confirmed that Paynter and Game On Dude were pre-entered Monday in the $5 million Classic, the richest of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races. Pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup were due Monday and will be announced Wednesday.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The lone New York-based Breeders’ Cup horse to work Monday at Belmont Park was Hymn Book, who went four furlongs in 50.62 seconds in company with the 2-year-old maiden Mischieviously. After crawling a first eighth in 13.86, Hymn Book got the final three furlongs of his move in 36.76 while galloping out five furlongs in 1:03.36.
“I think he’s doing really well,” trainer Shug McGaughey said of Hymn Book, winner of the Grade 1 Donn Handicap in 2012. “I’m seeing him do things around the barn I’ve never seen him do before, being a little more aggressive.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield plans to have a pair of entrants for each of the Grade 1 turf stakes here Sunday after No Explaining was scratched from last Saturday’s River Memories Stakes and redirected to the E.P. Taylor Stakes.
Attfield has Forte Dei Marmi and Perfect Timber for Sunday’s $1 million Canadian International, a 1 1/2-mile race for 3-year-olds and up, and already had Moment of Majesty for the $500,000 E.P. Taylor for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Last Gunfighter, winner of a trio of Grade 3 races this year including the Pimlico Special, was pre-entered Monday for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic and will be ridden in the race by Javier Castellano, trainer Chad Brown said.
Last Gunfighter was one of 11 horses Brown pre-entered Monday for seven of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races, to be run Nov. 1-2 at Santa Anita.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ken and Sarah Ramsey set yet another record Sunday at Keeneland when Captain Cook carried their red and white silks to victory in the ninth race, giving them 13 wins here this month and breaking the fall-meet mark they set last year with 12 wins.
COMMENT: Madame Cactus invaded from Southern California, scratched into the race, and took full advantage, posting the upset. Coming off a fine second in the CERF on Del Mar’s Polytrack last month, she relished the same footing here. From her outside post she was last early. She steadily advanced while staying out in the clear. She swung very wide into the lane and put in a strong, sustained rally that just got her there in time. The Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita Dec.
ELMONT, N.Y. – The tasks couldn’t be any more different for trainer Todd Pletcher as he prepares two horses for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.
In Graydar, Pletcher has a horse who has never run beyond 1 1/8 miles and has raced just once in seven months.
In Palace Malice, Pletcher has a horse who has won at 1 1/2 miles – a quarter-mile farther than the Classic distance – and already has made nine starts this year.
On Sunday, Pletcher put both horses through significant workouts over the Belmont training track.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Reneesgotzip, the winner of the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Stakes at Del Mar in August, will be ridden by Edwin Maldonado in a Breeders’ Cup sprint race Nov. 2, trainer Peter Miller said Sunday.
Reneesgotzip was ridden by Garrett Gomez when she won the Rancho Bernardo, but Gomez is not currently riding. Gomez informed his agent, Tony Matos, on Oct. 10 that he intended to stop riding. Gomez has not had a presence in Southern California racing in recent weeks. He has not returned phone calls seeking comment.
ELMONT, N.Y. – It was another busy morning for Breeders’ Cup hopefuls in New York on Sunday, and a very busy morning for jockey John Velazquez. Velazquez was aboard four of the Cup contenders to work here Sunday, including three within about a 45-minute span after the renovation break.
Sunday also proved to be a busy and productive morning for trainer Chad Brown, who sent out eight likely Breeders’ Cup starters to work. Seven of those works came over the turf, the eighth by Summer Applause, who got the day started with an encouraging drill over the main track shortly after dawn.