LOUISVILLE, KY. – Cold, damp, and dreary.
That pretty much sums up training hours Friday morning at Churchill Downs, where a steady drizzle made the unseasonably cool temperature feel even cooler. The main track was eventually downgraded from good to sloppy, and the turf course was listed as yielding when opened for business at 9:45 a.m.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Game Winner has yet to lose, and trainer Bob Baffert hopes to keep him that way through the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs. Baffert has put Game Winner through a series of varied workouts, which on Friday at Santa Anita included working him inside the 3-year-old Ax Man in his final preparation for the Juvenile.
“He’s got to be ready for anything,” Baffert said. “Inside, outside, on the lead, coming from behind. I want him to be able to handle everything.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert was planning on sending nine horses to the Breeders’ Cup, and he worked five of them Friday, but the unbeaten Dream Tree came out of her work with an entrapped epiglottis that will need surgery and she is out of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, he said.
Dream Tree worked fast, a half-mile in 46.80 seconds under Drayden Van Dyke, but she struggled to best her company and was “making noise” after the work, Baffert said. An endoscopic examination minutes later at the barn revealed the issue.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Its Gonna Hurt, winner of the Speakeasy Stakes earlier this month at Santa Anita, will miss the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Friday because of a suspensory injury.
Trainer Brian Koriner said the injury was diagnosed on Friday after Its Gonna Hurt was found to have inflammation in a leg. The injury will keep Its Gonna Hurt out of training for four to six months, Koriner said.
ELMONT, N.Y. – With a nor’easter forecast for Saturday, Friday became an extremely busy morning at Belmont Park, with 24 horses pre-entered for Breeders’ Cup races putting in workouts over three different tracks.
Trainer Chad Brown moved up scheduled weekend workouts for 11 horses, including eight who worked over the inner turf course. Five of the eight are pre-entered in the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf, led by three-time Grade 1 winner Sistercharlie and recent Grade 1 winners Fourstar Crook and A Raving Beauty.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brian Hernandez Jr., who has become a perennial top-five rider on the Kentucky circuit, is making a major change in his winter schedule. Hernandez will ride at the Gulfstream Park championship meet, which starts Dec. 1, forgoing his annual pilgrimage to Fair Grounds in his native Louisiana.
“A lot of our top outfits are headed to Florida, so we thought we’d give it a shot,” said Hernandez’s longtime agent, Frank Bernis, referring to trainers such as Kenny McPeek, Rusty Arnold, and Ian Wilkes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – You might have thought trainer Chris Hartman had a perfect day by going 3 for 3 on Wednesday at Keeneland, but nope. At the same time, Hartman was going 0 for 3 at Indiana Grand, throwing a tiny wet blanket over an otherwise glorious afternoon.
“Plus, I should’ve killed ‘em at the windows at Keeneland,” Hartman lamented. “I just couldn’t put anything together the right way.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A 21-day fall meet highlighted by the first Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs in seven years will get under way Sunday with a Stars of Tomorrow card of all 2-year-old races reflecting a sizable increase in everyday purses at this historic track.
The Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association will raffle off halters worn by Songbird and Arrogate to benefit the Turning for Home horse retirement program at Parx Racing.
Raffle tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Turning for Home Office, its merchandise tables at Parx, or online at https://patha.org/halter-raffle.
The raffle will be held Breeders’ Cup Saturday (Nov. 3) at 3 p.m. in the Parx grandstand.
