Oviatt Class closed from last of seven to finish third in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes for 2-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Oct. 1.
His next start comes in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at the same distance at Del Mar on Nov. 5, and trainer Keith Desormeaux expects Oviatt Class to use a slightly different tactic.
“The horse is so laid back he let himself get too far back,” Desormeaux said. “I believe he can stay a little closer.”
Grade 1 winner Pinehurst and champion Gamine worked Friday at Santa Anita for trainer Bob Baffert in preparation for starts in Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar.
Pinehurst, easy winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 6, worked five furlongs in 59.60 seconds. Baffert said last weekend that Pinehurst will not start before the BC Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles.
After a disrupted but ultimately successful trip to New Mexico for the Downs at Albuquerque Handicap last month, Restrainedvengence is bound for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
The journey to the starting gate for the Dirt Mile is certain to go smoother than the road trip to Albuquerque.
A few days before the Downs at Albuquerque Handicap, Restrainvengence was in the midst of the 12-hour van ride from Southern California when the truck’s motor conked out near Kingman, Ariz.
For one veteran jockey, the Friday program at Santa Anita next week will be the start of a long-awaited resumption of a career in its fourth decade.
Brice Blanc, who has not ridden since he sustained injuries in a spill at Del Mar in late August 2020, has been working toward a return to riding in the last month. If all goes well in coming days, Blanc will ride on Friday.
Blanc, 48, fractured the C7 vertebra and two ribs and sustained a broken shoulder and dislocated thumb when Great Power clipped heels and fell in a turf race.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Joel Rosario picked up right where he left off six days prior – winning on the Kentucky circuit.
Rosario, who rode five winners on Oct. 2 in his only appearance of the September meet at Churchill Downs, opened the 17-day Keeneland fall meet Friday with another confident ride that resulted in victory.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Don’t scratch Tarabi off your running list for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies just yet. Trainer Cherie DeVaux said Tarabi, runner-up to divisional standout Echo Zulu in the Sept. 5 Spinaway at Saratoga in her last start, is still under consideration for the Nov. 5 race at Del Mar, conceding the schedule is a tight one.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A capacity field of 14 2-year-old turf fillies, plus two also-eligibles, has been entered in the Grade 2, $200,000 Jessamine Stakes, to be run here Wednesday as the 10th and last Win and You’re In of the fall meet toward the Nov. 5-6 Breeders’ Cup.
Turnerloose (post 3, Florent Geroux), a sharp winner of the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies last month, figures among the favorites for the 1 1/16-mile Jessamine for trainer Brad Cox, who last year swept the Jessamine and the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf with the recently retired Aunt Pearl.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Edwin Gonzalez held the hot hand here when racing resumed for the week on Thursday, riding four winners including the impressive maiden breaker Palmach, who bucked the early trend over the new Tapeta course with a wire-to-wire four-length victory for trainer Mark Casse.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Everything has gone to plan for Letruska since she won the Personal Ensign on Aug. 28. Now it’s just a matter of getting the 5-year-old mare through her final prep for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff when she runs Sunday as a heavy favorite in the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fair warning to everyone – star jockey Joel Rosario is scheduled to ride five days of the Keeneland fall meet, starting with the Friday opener. Rosario has been sensational this year when leaving his New York base to ride in Kentucky, starting with the first two days of the Keeneland spring meet (April 2-3), when he won a remarkable six stakes.
