ARCADIA, Calif. - Trinniberg, winner of the 2012 BC Sprint, worked a half-mile in a quick 46.60 seconds on Friday, the fastest of 21 works at the distance.
The workout was the first for Trinniberg since he finished last of seven in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 5. Trained by Bisnath Parboo, Trinniberg was ridden in the workout by Kevin Krigger, though it was unclear as of Friday morning who would ride Trinniberg in the $1.5 million BC Sprint on Nov. 2.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents worked five furlongs in 59 seconds Friday for a scheduled start in the $1 million BC Dirt Mile on Nov. 1. The Grade 1 BC Dirt Mile will be Goldencents’s first start around two turns since a fifth-place finish in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 18.
Since the Preakness, Goldencents has been second three times, all in sprints, including a runner-up finish to Points Offthebench in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 5.
Trainers Henry Dominguez and Danny Pish operate two of the winningest stables at their respective bases of New Mexico and Texas. Next month, both will chart new territory with starters in the Breeders’ Cup.
Dominguez, 55, is pointing Wine Police for the $1.5 million Sprint on Nov. 2, and has secured Rafael Bejarano to ride. Pish, 47, will send out Got Shades in the $1 million Juvenile Turf on Nov. 1, and has given the mount to Gary Stevens.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mizdirection, winner of the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, was described by trainer Mike Puype as “100 percent” ready for this year’s $1 million BC Turf Sprint after working seven furlongs in 1:24 on turf Friday at Santa Anita.
Ridden in the workout by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, Mizdirection worked the opening quarter-mile in 23.80 seconds, five furlongs in 59, and six furlongs in 1:11.20, according to track clockers. Puype said that Mizdirection will have one more workout next weekend before the BC Turf Sprint here Nov. 2.
Trainer Roger Attfield also is looking forward to next Sunday with Forte Dei Marmi and Perfect Timber on target for the $1 million Canadian International and Moment of Majesty set for the $500,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes.
Both the 1 1/2-mile Canadian International, for 3-year-olds and up, and the 1 1/4-mile E.P. Taylor, for fillies and mares, are Grade 1 turf races.
The fillies Irish Mission and Nancy O are the only other locals slated to compete in the Grade 1 features, with Irish Mission nominated to both races but with a current lean to the Canadian International.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Though Artemis Agrotera won the Grade 1 Frizette here at Belmont Park on Oct. 5, most of the talk immediately following the race was about the trouble favored Sweet Reason overcame to be second.
While Mike Hushion, the trainer of Artemis Agrotera didn’t want to speculate about the outcome of the Frizette, “it would have been very interesting if she came to our neck what my filly would have done,” Hushion said.
Perhaps that circumstance will play out in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.
STICKNEY, Ill. – For handicappers, one the most pressing questions early in Hawthorne’s fall-winter meet is which horses that have run well over Arlington’s synthetic Polytrack surface will transfer their form to dirt. Direct form correspondence between the two surfaces is rare, and can lead to heavy favorites going down in flames, and horses that looked hapless on the other side of Chicagoland coming in at long odds.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Wise Dan had his first workout since his lengthy win streak was halted when he breezed a half-mile in 47.40 seconds before dawn Friday on the Polytrack course at Keeneland.
Trainer Charlie LoPresti had wanted to breeze Wise Dan, the 2012 Horse of the Year, on the turf, but recent rain led him to settle on the Polytrack.
“I thought the grass might be a little soft, so we went ahead with this,” he said. “It was really no big deal either way.”
The Lumber Guy, runner-up in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, was confirmed as a starter for this year’s Sprint, trainer Mike Hushion said Thursday.
[BREEDERS’ CUP 2013: See DRF’s top contenders]
On Thursday, The Lumber Guy worked four furlongs in 48.63 over the Belmont main track. He went his first quarter in 24.09 and his second quarter in 23.54. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.03 under Mike Luzzi, who will ride him in the Sprint.
Flat Out, third in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, worked five furlongs in 1:01.38 over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for a return trip to the Classic.
Saratoga clockers timed Flat Out in 12.66 for the first eighth, 24.76 for the quarter, 48.06 for a half-mile, and had him galloping out six furlongs in 1:15.49.
