Uncle Mo and Boys At Tosconova certainly bring star power to this year’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. It remains to be seen how much depth there will be to this year’s field.The connections of several good 2-year-olds have yet to commit to the Juvenile. That list includes J.B.’s Thunder, the front-running winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, and To Honor and Serve, a very good-looking maiden winner at Belmont Park.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Arlington Park named Tony Petrillo as its general manager on Wednesday, two days after the track’s parent company, Churchill Downs Inc., announced that the track’s president, Roy Arnold had resigned, effective immediately.
In its recent history, Arlington has gone outside the company to hire leading executives, but Petrillo has worked at Arlington for 17 years, most recently serving as vice president of facilities and operations.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown had three fillies or mares nominated to Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Athenia Stakes at Belmont Park, and any of the trio would have fit. In the end, Brown decided to go with Tottie, one of several contenders in an 11-horse field entered for the 1 1/16-mile turf race.
Tottie, a British-bred daughter of Fantastic Light, is 4 for 6 this year for Brown, including a victory in the Omnibus Stakes last out at Monmouth Park. That race came just three weeks after Tottie finished third, beaten a half-length in the Grade 3 Matchmaker, also at Monmouth.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Trainer Jim Meyaard is making a significant circuit change after operating one of the winningest stables at Northlands Park in his native Alberta, Canada. On his agenda for the balance of 2010 and into 2011 are Remington Park, Florida, and Woodbine.
“We only live once and we want to take that next step,” said Meyaard.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Win and You’re In races already have been exhausted this fall at Keeneland, but a horse or two still conceivably could be impressive enough in a final prep here to convince his or her connections to wheel back in the Breeders’ Cup.
Case in point: West Ocean, a top-class female turf-sprint specialist who will be a solid favorite Friday in the $100,000 Franklin County Stakes at Keeneland and would seem to fit nicely – even against boys – off a big effort when the $1 million BC Turf Sprint is run Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs.
The Spinster Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland was a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic on Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs, and, as of Wednesday, there was a chance the connections of Acoma were going to utilize that berth for an encore race for a mare whose racing career might have concluded had she lost on Sunday.
Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally is using elements of his own history to have Eclair de Lune ready for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5.
In the winter of 1981-82, McAnally prepared the famous gelding John Henry for the Santa Anita Handicap in early March without a race since the preceding December. John Henry finished second in the Big Cap, but was promoted to first when Perrault was disqualified for interference.
Hey what is this – the Breeders’ Cup or the Claiming Crown? Indeed, several of the top contenders in the Turf Sprint were acquired through the claim box, the latest being Quick Enough, a 6-year-old gelding who won Monday’s Morvich Handicap after being haltered by Doug O’Neill for $40,000 at Del Mar two starts earlier.
Quick Enough earned a Beyer Figure of 98 for his pace-pressing score in the Morvich, which is a Win and You’re In event. His connections seem likely to pony up $90,000 to supplement QuickEnough to the Turf Sprint..
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Lookin At Lucky bounced off the Hollywood Park racetrack on Wednesday morning after a half-mile breeze in 48.40 seconds.
Walking up an incline that led from the track to the barn area, the colt began to buck, surprising jockey Martin Garcia who was aboard for the workout.
“He was feeling good,” Garcia said.
The workout was Lookin At Lucky’s first since a win in the Grade 2 Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park on Oct. 2, and the colt’s first in the buildup to the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6.
There has been little Japanese participation in the Breeders’ Cup over the years, just four starters in all, the last two being Casino Drive, 12th and last in the 2008 Classic at Santa Anita won by Raven's Pass, and Personal Rush, who finished sixth of 13 as a 25-1 shot in the Classic won by Ghostzapper in 2004 at Lone Star Park. But Japan will be well represented this year with a horse who is unquestionably that country’s best runner sent here thus far for the Breeders’ Cup, Espoir City.