LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With horses converging on Churchill Downs from all over the world for the Breeders’ Cup, there are numerous races Saturday in which many runners have limited experience racing at Churchill Downs.
The $85,000 Dream Supreme for 3-year-old fillies, the first stakes race on the Breeders’ Cup undercard, is a clear exception.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Headed by last year’s winner, Grassy, a field of seven entered Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Red Smith Handicap. Scheduled for 1 3/8 miles on turf, the Red Smith will be run for the 52nd time and is New York’s last graded stakes of the season in the male grass division.
Joe Bravo, who guided Grassy to a come-from-behind win in the 2010 Red Smith, is back on the Christophe Clement-trained horse, who exits a third-place finish in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With a runner in the first and one in the last and 7 1/2 hours in between, Saturday portends to be a long – but potentially successful – day for trainer Eddie Kenneally.
After sending out morning-line favorite Jump Up in a first-level allowance in the opener at 12:05 p.m., Kenneally may have the horse to beat, Buckleupbuttercup, in the Grade 2, $150,000 Chilukki Stakes for fillies and mares at one mile. Post time for the Chilukki is 7:40 p.m.
Twitter updates from DRF's Mike Welsch in Kentucky for morning Breeders' Cup workouts on Thursday, Nov. 3. Check back later today for Mike Welsch's final Clocker Report Card for Saturday's Breeders' Cup races, plus video analysis of today's training and works at Churchill Downs. You can also find the rest of his Breeders' Cup clocker reports and a list of Breeders' Cup workouts by key contenders:
Several hours after trainer Al Stall Jr. saddles Cease and Animal Spirits in separate Breeders’ Cup races at Churchill Downs, the stable will close out its day with a significant starter in Louisiana. Star Guitar will be going for his sixth consecutive stakes win Saturday night, when he runs in the $100,000 Gold Cup at Delta Downs.
Cryptolight easily blew past pacesetter Shadowbdancing to win last year’s Mountaineer Mile, but circumstances may be right for the tables to be turned when the top two finishers from 2010 clash again in Saturday night’s running of the $125,000 Mile at Mountaineer Racetrack.
Cryptolight, a locally based 7-year-old trained by Wiliam Martin, has been no worse than second in 11 of 14 starts over Mountaineer’s main track, highlighted by his 5 3/4-length score in the 2010 Mile. He earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure for the win.
For the second year in a row, European connections have clashed with Churchill Downs officials over turf course policy, with Thursday’s confrontation between three trainers, track maintenance crew, and Churchill outriders coming after Churchill canceled turf training following a short period of morning rain. At the center of the battle was trainer Michael Stoute, whose Breeders’ Cup Turf entrant, Sea Moon, had been scheduled for a five- or six-furlong grass workout Thursday.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – Fort Erie Race Track concluded its meet Tuesday with a decrease in handle for its 78 days of Thoroughbred racing. Average daily handle for the 78 days of Thoroughbred racing was $508,615, a decline of 19 percent from last season when a 78-day season averaged $633,100 a day.
Contributimng to the decline was a reduction in the number of races offered and the loss of a major simulcast customer, New York City Off-Track Betting, which closed its operation last December.
The 3-year-old Concealed Identity, a multiple stakes winner on dirt, will try to show he’s more than a one-hit wonder on turf when he faces older and more experienced grass runners in Saturday’s $60,000 Find Handicap for Maryland-breds at Laurel Park.
