A total of 14 horses pre-entered the Turf Sprint, including eight geldings and three fillies or mares. Conspicuous by their absence were the gelding Ben’s Cat, who earned a fees-paid berth by winning the Turf Monster; and the mare Unzip Me, a rallying third in last year’s Turf Sprint.
Twitter updates from DRF's Mike Welsch in Kentucky and David Grening in New York for morning Breeders' Cup workouts on Wednesday, Oct. 26. Check back later today for Mike 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 Saturday, check here for the rest of his Breeders' Cup clocker reports and a list of Breeders' Cup workouts by key contenders:
A tantalizing matchup in the Breeders' Cup Classic featuring Havre de Grace, the best filly in the United States, and Uncle Mo, the nation's most compelling 3-year-old, along with a bid by the great Goldikova for an unprecedented fourth straight victory in the Breeders' Cup Mile, all are in the offing for this year's Breeders' Cup Nov. 4-5 at Churchill Downs, as those horses were among the record 193 runners announced as pre-entries on Wednesday by the Breeders' Cup.
The Big Fresno Fair showed a 12.4 percent increase in daily ontrack handle and a 22.2 percent increase in all-sources daily handle for its 2011 meeting. The meet ran from Oct. 6-16.
Average ontrack handle was $339,413 for the nine-day 2011 meeting compared with a $301,913 daily ontrack handle in 2010, when the meet comprised 10 days. The daily all-source handle, including satellites, out-of-state and advance-deposit wagering, was $1,573,463 compared with 1,287,689 for the 2010 meet.
Flay buys French filly for Cup
Celebrity chef Bobby Flay teamed up with Pletcher to win the 2010 Juvenile Fillies Turf with More Than Real. Flay will attempt to successfully defend that title a week from Friday with Dear Lavinia, whom he purchased privately from owner-breeder Joe Allen earlier this week.
Gio Ponti was cross-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Breeders’ Cup Mile when BC pre-entries were taken Monday, trainer Christophe Clement said Tuesday.
While five of the 15 BC races are now for 2-year-olds with the addition of the Juvenile Sprint, a 100 percent emphasis will be placed on 2-year-olds when Churchill opens its fall meet Sunday with a Stars of Tomorrow program.
Eleven races are in the condition book for Sunday, led by the twin one-mile stakes, the Grade 2, $150,000 Pocahontas for fillies, and the Grade 3, $100,000 Iroquois for colts and geldings. Four allowance races and five maiden special weight races also are on tap, depending on the Thursday draw of entries.
To Honor and Serve does not race or even work in blinkers. But the Pennsylvania Derby winner showed up in blinkers when he returned to the track for the first time Tuesday morning since working five furlongs in 1:02 on Sunday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Uncle Mo, the possible favorite for the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic, visited the Churchill Downs racetrack for the first time since the week of the Kentucky Derby when he jogged an easy mile alongside a stable pony shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With the majority of the Breeders’ Cup contenders currently stabled on the grounds at Churchill Downs having worked over the weekend, action was limited during training hours Tuesday. In fact, the two most noteworthy events took place nearly four hours apart, when Classic contenders Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty made their first visit to the track shortly after the course opened for training at 6 a.m. and Sidney’s Candy closed out the morning’s activity by working a half-mile on the turf just before 10 a.m.
