Trainer Dale Romans isn’t buying the notion that a long, hard campaign has caught up to his Preakness winner Shackleford.
Romans was extremely happy with how Shackleford looked breezing a rapid five furlongs in 58.15 seconds Saturday morning over the main track at Churchill Downs in preparation for the $1 million Dirt Mile. Under exercise rider Tammy Fox, Shackleford, working outside the 4-year-old De Price, went in splits of 11.32 seconds, 22.46, 33.84, and got his final quarter in 24.31.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup workout report at Churchill Downs can be summed up in two four-letter words. Cold and busy.
The temperature barely inched above the freezing mark and there was frost on the turf course when the main track opened at 6 a.m. but after several relatively calm mornings, things really got cooking with 11 Breeders’ Cup horses putting in timed workouts on the dirt during the course of the morning and seven others doing likewise over the grass.
Works of the day (main track)
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jeranimo won the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 8 to justify a trip to Churchill Downs for Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Mile.
In the BC Mile, Jeranimo will face a field that will include the French-based Goldikova, who has won the last three runnings; the former American champion Gio Ponti; and Strong Suit, a highly-promising invader from England.
Jeranimo’s trainer, Mike Pender, knows the quality of the opposition and thinks his 5-year-old horse fits with that group.
“I’m afraid he does and that’s what’s scary,” Pender said.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When trainer Graham Motion worked Animal Kingdom a week in front of the Kentucky Derby in the spring, the drill was so spectacular that there was no doubt he deserved a shot in the race, which he won.
Motion hopes to make the same transition with Spinster Stakes winner Aruna, who, like Animal Kingdom, has made all her prior starts on turf or a synthetic surface, and is under consideration for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic on Friday.
A key shift in the weights may help one old-timer turn the tables on another when Cardashi and Prince Noir clash for the third time within the past six weeks in Tuesday’s featured seventh race at Laurel Park.
A group of 13 older sprinters, including two entered for the main track only, are lined up for a second-level optional $25,000 claimer scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Breeders’ Futurity winner Dullahan, pre-entered in both the Juvenile and Juvenile Turf, will race next week in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, said Jerry Crawford, head of the Donegal Racing group that owns the colt.
Crawford came to his decision shortly after Dullahan worked Saturday morning at Churchill Downs, breezing five furlongs in 1:00.80 seconds.
Twitter updates from DRF's Mike Welsch and David Grening in Kentucky for morning Breeders' Cup workouts on Saturday, Oct. 29. Check back later today for Welsch's full Clocker Report and video analysis of today's training and works at Churchill Downs. Welsch has been in Lexington and Louisville since last Saturday, check here for the rest of his Breeders' Cup clocker reports and a list of Breeders' Cup workouts by key contenders:
Now I Know is now 4 for 4 after winning her stakes debut by a widening 9 1/4 lengths in Friday night’s $90,000 Oklahoma Classics Lassie. The race was one of eight Oklahoma-bred stakes worth a cumulative $1 million on the richest night of the meet at Remington Park.
The Bank of America AQHA Challenge Championships, made up of six stakes races worth over $1 million in total, place an emphasis on the veterans of Quarter Horse racing, despite a nod to juveniles who tackle the Grade 1, $150,000 John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship. Via qualifying races held throughout the country, the Challenge strives to bring together America's finest speedsters to face each other at a selected track.
CHALLENGE CHAMPIONSHIPS: Get PPs, video previews, watch live
