Just call him Mr. Versatile.
Imco Spirit holds Zia Park’s track record for both six furlongs and 1 1/8 miles and on Saturday he will be racing somewhere in between those distances in the $55,000 Veteran.
The Veteran, at a 1 1/16 miles, is Zia’s prep for the $200,000 Distance Championship Handicap on Dec. 4.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Medaglia d'Amour will be scratched from the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic on Friday after coming down with a temperature of 102 degrees on Thursday morning, trainer Ben Cecil said.
"She had a high temperature this morning and coughed a few times. We didn't train her, and obviously we can't run tomorrow," Cecil said.
Medaglia d'Amour was a longshot in the Ladies' Classic, 30-1 on the morning line of Mike Battaglia of Churchill Downs. She drew post 9 in the field of 10, so Super Espresso, who was in post 10, will come in one slot.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There has been some shuffling to the field for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
Longshot Gung Ho, trained by Mike Maker, was declared out of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Thursday morning by co-owner Ken Ramsey due to hind-end soreness, clearing the way for the race’s lone also-eligible, Tequila Factor, to draw into the field.
“When I checked him this morning he was off in the rear end,” Ramsey said of Gung Ho. “They’ve done some X-rays, no broken bones or anything.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – John Johny Jak was never seriously considered for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs.
He was third behind two entrants in that race – Jeranimo and Mr. Commons – in the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile, but John Johny’s Jak’s performance did not justify a trip to Kentucky in the mind of trainer Kristin Mulhall.
Mulhall has chosen the $250,000 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park on Nov. 26 as John Johny Jak’s big race for late fall. To get there, she says John Johny Jak must start in Saturday’s $65,000 Lure Stakes at Santa Anita.
The connections of some of the seven 2-year-old fillies entered in Saturday’s $50,000 Golden Gate Debutante may be looking toward upcoming two-turn stakes for the division, the Corte Madera on Dec. 3 and the California Oaks on Jan. 1. But trainer Lloyd Mason isn’t thinking that far ahead with Power of Nine.
Power of Nine is the only stakes winner in the field for the six-furlong Tapeta race, having won the six-furlong Wine Country Debutante at Santa Rosa on Aug. 6.
“We’re trying to do what works,” said Mason. “She’s won a stakes before sprinting.
Rallying Cry and Colonel Courtney shipped down from Hastings Park and proved tough to beat as they finished first and second in division one of Leg One of the McFadden Memorial Sprint Claiming Series on Wednesday. Sent off as a slight 3/2 favorite, Rallying Cry came from just off the pace under jockey Joe Crispin. As the field came into the stretch, Colonel Courtney came up alongside Smoken Sham who turned for home with a tepid lead. Rallying Cry was just in behind Colonel Courtney and they both began to inch away down the lane as Rallying Cry battled to a neck victory. Both Rallying Cr
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – One year ago, Larry Jones was not even training, let alone training Havre de Grace. Six months ago, Uncle Mo was so sick he had to miss the Kentucky Derby, and it was far from certain he would ever race again.
The longer the race, the more important the pace.
This racing axiom is older than dirt, but it’s worth dredging up in the context of the Grade 2, $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon because – at a distance of 1 3/4 miles – the Marathon is about as long as races get in this country these days.
“Pace is important in every race,” notes trainer Al Stall Jr. “The longer the race, the more of a chance the pace can get away from you, if you go too fast in the middle stages. I think that true class comes out in longer races.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For someone who sent out two Breeders’ Cup winners last year, trainer Bret Calhoun sure has flown under the radar this week. The 47-year-old Texan is back with one of those winners, Chamberlain Bridge, who started from post 1 when he captured the 2010 BC Turf Sprint and will break from post 14 with Jamie Theriot back aboard when he defends his title Saturday in the $1 million race at Churchill Downs.
