ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Paul Buttigieg had a career year at Woodbine in 2010, with his 21 wins and purse money of $952,931 enhanced by the slew of bonuses he collected as the owner and breeder of almost all of his stock.
But the 64-year-old Buttigieg certainly isn’t the type to get carried away and knew that he would have difficulty performing an encore this season.
“Last year my older horses just kept putting out their conditions, and I took my 2-year-olds in early,” said Buttigieg.
Aside from those owners whose horses won Win and You’re In races, resulting in expense-paid berths to the Breeders’ Cup, participating owners in the Breeders’ Cup must ante up a sizable 3 percent of the race purse to pre-enter and start their horse.
Less than a week before pre-entries are made for the Breeders’ Cup, trainer Pat Byrne is playing the waiting game, wondering if his promising 2-year-old Take Charge Indy can gain entry into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Although uncertain of making the race if it is oversubscribed as is typically the case from year to year, the chances of his horse making the field appear better this week than last.
Trainer Peter Walder got a pretty good feel for what it’s like winning a Breeders’ Cup race last year when he joined his girlfriend, trainer Diane Alvarado, both in the winner’s circle and on the podium for the post-race press conference following Eldaafer’s victory in the Marathon. On Nov. 5, Walder will attempt to experience an even bigger thrill, saddling a Breeders’ Cup winner of his own, when he sends out Force Freeze in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Regally Ready, whose four-race win streak earlier this year was capped by a score over Bridgetown and Chamberlain Bridge in the Grade 3 Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, got back on track with a front-running upset of last Sunday’s Grade 1, $511,600 Nearctic Stakes at Woodbine. The Steve Asmussen-trained gelding earned a fees-paid berth to the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint after prevailing over 2-1 favorite Bated Breath by a neck on a yielding course.
Bob and Janice McNair will make a Breeders’ Cup appearance next month with the lone horse they have racing, Elusive Kate. She will be shipping in from England for the Grade 2, $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.
The undefeated Nahrain is expected to make her first start outside of Europe in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4, trainer Roger Varian said from England on Wednesday.
“At the time, we’re training her like she will go,” he said. “It’s on the agenda, without being concrete.”
Varian said that 3-year-old Nahrain will have a “fast work” in coming days, which could solidify her status for the Filly and Mare Turf, which is run over 1 3/8 miles.
Trainer Ian Black said he plans to pre-enter Grade 3 Summer Stakes runner-up Excaper in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and the son of hot sire Exchange Rate could be the pacemaker in the one-mile event.
After setting moderate fractions in the one-mile Summer at Woodbine on Sept. 17, Excaper gave way grudgingly to finish three-quarters of a length behind the heavily favored Finale. He went on to finish a fading fourth as the favorite in the Grade 3 Grey Stakes, over 1 1/16 miles on the Polytrack.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Very few stakes at this 2011 Keeneland fall meet have had a heavy favorite. Bettors have rendered races such as the Woodford and First Lady as wide-open scrambles with 7-2 favorites, while only the TCA Stakes, with Switch finishing third at 4-5, has had so much as an odds-on choice from the 13 stakes already run here.
Fort Erie Race Track has submitted an application to the Ontario Racing Commission for 69 live Thoroughbred racing dates for 2012.
The meeting would begin Sunday, May 6 and end on Tuesday, Oct. 16
This year’s 78-day meeting began Saturday, May 7, and will wind up on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
“Market conditions and financial constraints associated with operating Thoroughbred racing in Ontario played a major part in the change in dates,” said Jim Thibert, chief operating officer of the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium, in a press release sent out late Tuesday afternoon.
