LOS ALAMITOS, Calif.- Favorite Cartel won the biggest race of his career in Saturday’s $353,500 Bank of America Challenge Championship at Los Alamitos in what was likely his second-to-last start.
Earlier on Saturday, a deal was finalized that will result in Favorite Cartel going to stud at Burns Ranch in Southern California in 2012. With the win on Saturday, Favorite Cartel earned an automatic berth to the $750,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 10, likely his final start.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Stacelita, the likely favorite in $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, had an easy first morning at Churchill on Sunday after shipping in Saturday from New York, going through moderate exercise on the main track. And that will be Stacelita’s routine through her start here Friday. Trainer Chad Brown said Stacelita won’t visit the Churchill grass course until she races on it, and that she will only gallop into the race. Stacelita’s last work came Thursday at Belmont, when she went five furlongs in 1:02.96.
Led by bullet workouts from the Grade 1 winners Euroears and Plum Pretty, trainer Bob Baffert worked four of his Breeders’ Cup hopefuls at Santa Anita on Sunday.
Euroears, bound for Saturday’s BC Sprint, zipped five furlongs in 57.80 seconds. Plum Pretty, a leading candidate for Friday’s BC Ladies’ Classic, had the fastest of 20 works over six furlongs, 1:11.60.
Earlier in the morning, Secret Circle, a starter in Friday’s BC Juvenile Sprint, worked five furlongs in 58.40 seconds. Game On Dude, a top contender for Saturday’s BC Classic, breezed six furlongs in 1:12.20.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Shortly after Grace Hall won the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga in early September, trainer Tony Dutrow was already looking forward to the filly’s 3-year-old season. He seemed indifferent about running in the Breeders’ Cup.
In the eight weeks that have passed, Dutrow’s attitude has changed and now he is very much looking forward to running Grace Hall in Friday’s $1 million Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Led by Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty, Todd Pletcher’s candidates for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, four Classic runners had their final works at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning, and two more worked elsewhere, as final preparations were made for Saturday’s $5 million race here.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sunday morning at Churchill Downs was pretty much a carbon copy of Saturday with the temperature barely breaking the freezing mark but the action on the racetrack red hot as more and more Breeders’ Cup contenders put in their final works prior to the big event, which is now less than a week away.
The main track was fast and appeared slightly faster for the opening session , which began at 6 a.m., then after the renovation break. The turf course was again listed as firm and definitely had less give to it than the previous morning.[bc_video_id:237369:]
Excaper worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 over Woodbine's Polytrack surface on Sunday morning in preparation for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.
Regular rider Emma-Jayne Wilson was aboard for the drill, in which Excaper was clocked in 35.60 seconds for his first three furlongs and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.80.
“He went off nice and relaxed, and finished up good and strong," said Ian Black, who trains Excaper for Richard Kaster and Frederick Wieting.
The field for the Breeders' Cup Ladies’ Classic continued to shrink on Sunday, when trainer Graham Motion decided to run Aruna in the Filly and Mare Turf on Friday.
Motion was reticent to try Aruna on dirt in a race for the first time. She won the Spinster Stakes on Polytrack in her last start, but all her previous starts had been on turf.
Belmont Park canceled Sunday’s closing-day card as a result of the pre-Halloween storm that dumped a mixture of rain, ice and snow in the area on Saturday and made the main track and turf courses unusable.
Belmont will be open for simulcasting. Among the track being offered is Churchill Downs, which holds its opening-day card today.
The storm also forced Belmont to cancel the final seven races on Saturday’s card including the Grade 3 Bold Ruler Handicap. The Bold Ruler will be rescheduled for next Sunday.
