Saturday, October 19

Keeneland - Raven Run (race 9)

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.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown plans to bring an army of turf horses to this year’s Breeders’ Cup, a group that includes the 3-year-old filly Alterite, the winner of the Grade 1 Garden City Stakes, who Brown said Sunday would be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf by owner Martin Schwartz.

On Sunday, seven of Brown’s Breeders’ Cup turf hopefuls put in workouts over the Belmont Park turf course, with Real Solution (Turf), Bobby’s Kitten (Juvenile Turf), and Kitten Kaboodle (Juvenile Fillies Turf) standing out.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Owner Ed Stanco completed his 180-degree odyssey to the Breeders’ Cup, and now his sensational 3-year-old filly, Princess of Sylmar, will travel 3,000 miles to compete in the $2 million Distaff on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita.

Stanco and trainer Todd Pletcher confirmed Princess of Sylmar for the Distaff following her half-mile breeze in 48.42 seconds Saturday over the Belmont Park training track.

“We’re going,” said Stanco, adding that Pletcher described the work to him in one word: “excellent.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Sum of the Parts was a 3-year-old who ran a decent fourth at 29-1 last year in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Whether or not his odds are shorter when the Sprint is renewed Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, Tom Amoss likes his chances.

“He’s coming up to it the right way, and I think he’s got a right to improve off his last race,” Amoss said after Sum of the Parts breezed an easy half-mile Saturday in 50.80 seconds over the Polytrack surface at Keeneland. “This move was very similar to what he did here before the Phoenix.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mucho Macho Man continued his strong training for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2 with a five-furlong move on a gorgeous Saturday morning at Santa Anita. It was his penultimate work for the Classic, and trainer Kathy Ritvo said he would have his final drill next weekend.

ARCADIA, Calif. – There is a two-day carryover of $230,199 for Saturday’s pick six at Santa Anita.

Friday began with a carryover of $43,180. The absence of a winning favorite in Friday’s pick six races assured the carryover.

Saturday’s pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific.

Chamberlain Bridge, winner of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, has been retired from racing, trainer Bret Calhoun said Friday.

Bred in Kentucky by Eugene Melnyk and owned by the Carl R. Moore Management Co., Chamberlain Bridge specialized in turf sprints, winning 19 of 53 starts for earnings of $1,953,016. The 9-year-old gelding finished eighth in the Sept. 2 Turf Monster at Parx Racing in his final career start.

“He retired 100 percent sound,” Calhoun said. “He just couldn’t compete at the top level anymore. He was a very special horse to all of us.”