LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fields are full for all but one of the five Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds being run Friday at Keeneland. Only the BC Juvenile, with 10 entries, is short of maximum capacity.
Entries for both the Friday and Saturday Breeders’ Cup cards were drawn Monday afternoon at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington, with the 2-year-old races being particularly crowded. A total of 69 2-year-olds, including five also-eligibles, were entered in those five races.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Flightline drew post 4 and was installed as the 3-5 morning-line favorite in a field of eight entered Monday for Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.
Flightline, to be ridden by Flavien Prat, drew outside of Life Is Good, who drew post 2 and was made the 6-1 third choice on the line of Nick Tammaro, who makes the morning line for Keeneland. Tammaro made Epicenter, the Travers winner, the 5-1 second choice. Epicenter drew post 6.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 34 horses that shipped Saturday to Kentucky from England, France, and Ireland didn’t clear the United States Department of Agriculture quarantine in time to train Monday but are expected to take to the track Tuesday morning.
Most of the action is expected to take place on Keeneland’s synthetic training track, which is located just down a hill from the clubhouse turn on the main track and just up the hill from the international quarantine barn on the west side of the group of barns being used this week to house Breeders’ Cup runners.
KEENELAND
Monday, Oct. 31
Weather: Cloudy
Temperature: 62
Track: Muddy/good
LEXINGTON, KY. – The weather and the racetrack were a major part of the story Monday at Keeneland with Sunday rain leaving the main track muddy and sealed when opening for business at 6 a.m. before being back-raked and upgraded to good following the one and only renovation break.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Billy Donovan famously said that winning back-to-back NCAA basketball championships didn’t change his life one little bit. In fact, after coaching the University of Florida to those 2006-07 titles, “I was depressed,” he told Business Insider years later.
Eric Reed has yet to experience that paradox – and doesn’t think he ever will.
“I’m taking this feeling with me to the grave,” he said.
Indeed, six months after winning the 148th Kentucky Derby with 80-1 shot Rich Strike, Reed, 58, is still flying on a proverbial cloud.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Three-time Grade 1 winner Jack Christopher was not entered Monday for Saturday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland owing to concerns from his connections that the horse would be scratched before race day by Kentucky Horse Racing Commission veterinarians based on how the horse moves in his training, according to trainer Chad Brown.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Letruska, the 2021 Eclipse champion older female, was not entered Monday in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and will be given some time off while her connections decide on her future, trainer Fausto Gutierrez said Monday.
“She needs a break after the last race,” Gutierrez said. “She probably needs to be a broodmare, but we’ll give it some time to think about it.”
ARCADIA, Calif. - Cabo Spirit won for the first time at 1 1/8 miles in his fourth attempt at the distance in Saturday’s Grade 2 Twilight Derby on turf at Santa Anita.
The gelding, a three-time stakes winner, is scheduled to race at 1 1/8 miles on turf in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby, a $400,000 race at Del Mar on Dec. 3.
In 2023, trainer George Papaprodromou wants to test Cabo Spirit’s stamina on turf.
“I think he can run farther,” Papaprodromou said on Sunday.
KEENELAND
Weather: Cloudy
Track: Fast
Temp: 55
LEXINGTON, Ky. - After having more than 60 Breeders’ Cup contenders work at Keeneland over the past two mornings, the clocker’s tab was a light one, as expected, here Sunday. Only four potential Breeders’ Cup starters breezed during the morning, with three from the potent barn of trainer Steve Asmussen, who brings a strong hand to the table for the big event next weekend.
