LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Four horses are stretching out in distance. Four horses are cutting back. The only member of Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile field who last ran at the distance was beaten 11 lengths.
Such is the dilemma facing handicappers when trying to come up with the winner of the $1 million Dirt Mile, which despite a boatload of defections – both expected and unexpected – came up an extremely competitive race. As it is run at Churchill Downs, the Dirt Mile is a one-turn race.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, the Swiss-born brothers who bred and own Goldikova, announced during the 2008 post-BC Mile press conference that they would delay retirement and bring the Mile winner back to race at age 4, a cheer went up from assembled media.
How quaint.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was a little more than five years ago that trainer Michael Matz led an unbeaten colt to Churchill Downs in a quest for greatness, and the horse, the ill-fated Barbaro, fulfilled expectations, decisively winning the 2006 Kentucky Derby in what would be the final victory of his short career.
Sadly, as few racing fans can forget, the colt would succumb in January of the following year following complications from a shattered hind leg he suffered in the 2006 Preakness.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Cape Blanco, retired now, came and quickly conquered, shipping three times from Ireland to the United States and winning three of this country’s top grass races, the Man o’ War, the Arlington Million, and the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. Back home, Cape Blanco had finished sixth, fourth, and 13th the last three times he raced on turf.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The license plate on his truck says South Dakota, so it’s obvious trainer Bill Mott, who grew up in tiny Mobridge, S.D., has not forgotten his roots. Though he now trains primarily in New York and Florida, it is Kentucky where Mott first gained fame. He has won more races than any trainer in the history of Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Any doubt how Uncle Mo might have bounced out of his relatively disappointing final work for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic on Sunday morning were erased the moment he stepped out onto the racetrack shortly after 6 a.m. here at Churchill Downs on Wednesday. He turned in an exhilarating training session during which he galloped as strong, as sound and as spectacularly as could be expected leading up to such a major event.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Those looking to see how speed is holding on Breeders’ Cup Friday at Churchill Downs should get an early barometer in the third race with the running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Ack Ack Handicap.
A 1 1/16-mile dirt race, the Ack Ack drew a field of seven and will be relatively short on pace, with the classy Gladding and Nacho Friend being the only customary front-runners. Should Gladding cruise on the lead, the race could potentially foreshadow success for speed horses in dirt Breeders’ Cup races later in the day.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If there is a major stakes race for young colts at Churchill Downs, the partners in Skychai Racing are becoming a regular part of the action.
Six months ago, the group was represented in the Kentucky Derby with Twinspired, the Bluegrass Stakes runner-up, who would go on to finish 17th in the race. And now Skychai is back, this time with an entrant in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, having purchased a minority interest in Kentucky Cup Juvenile winner Hansen in late October.
