ELMONT, N.Y. – Combat Diver, a maiden winner at Belmont on Oct. 3 at Belmont Park, is being pointed to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, trainer Gary Contessa said Friday.
Meanwhile, The Truth Or Else, third in the Grade 1 Champagne, has been withdrawn from Breeders’ Cup consideration, trainer Ken McPeek notified via text. The Grade 2 Nashua at Aqueduct on Nov. 2 will be his next start.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Better Lucky, a multiple Grade 1 winner on turf against females, most likely will take on males in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 1, trainer Tom Albertrani said Friday.
Albertrani said Better Lucky would be pre-entered for both the Mile and the Filly and Mare Sprint, a seven-furlong race on dirt, with her first preference being the Mile.
“We’re leaning more toward the Mile,” Albertrani said. “We think her better races are on the turf.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – Belle Gallantey, the former claimer turned two-time Grade 1 winner, will try to complete her rags-to-riches story when she runs in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Oct. 31.
Owner Michael Dubb had been on the fence as to whether to send Belle Gallantey across the country for the Distaff, but on Friday, he said, “We’re going to go.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Goldencents worked a sharp five furlongs in 59 seconds at Santa Anita on Friday for the final start of his career in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile here Oct. 31.
In the days following that race, Goldencents will be sent to Kentucky to stand at stud in 2015. Co-owner Glenn Sorgenstein thinks Goldencents can go out with a victory and win the BC Dirt Mile for the second consecutive year.
“This is it,” he said Friday before the workout. “This is goodbye. This is beyond a good horse.”
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jon Court capped a long, painful comeback by winning the Wednesday feature aboard favored Honey Lake, giving him his first victory since he broke his hand in a spill in the final race on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs.
The fracture was a complex one and required the attention of Dr. Joseph Kutz, a former Thoroughbred owner and a world-renowned hand specialist based in Louisville, Ky.
“It was a pretty tough road back, so it feels really good to get this one,” Court said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – You almost had to see it to believe how Unrivaled, ridden by Rosie Napravnik, was beaten in the first race Wednesday at Keeneland. While his six opponents got away smoothly from the gate in the 1 1/16-mile race for maiden claimers, the 2-year-old colt dwelt in his stall for several seconds, spotting them a seemingly insurmountable advantage as the even-money favorite.
After a quarter-mile, the official chart shows Unrivaled as 14 lengths back, but Equibase chart caller Steve Peery said the colt was “probably at least 20 lengths behind” shortly after the break.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – If Joe Sharp were a racehorse, he might be one of the best sprinters in the world.
Sharp has gotten away to an exceptionally fast start in his training career by recording seven wins and three seconds from his first 13 starters. After years as a stablehand and assistant to Mike Stidham and Mike Maker, he started his first horse Sept. 10.
“I just hope I’m not cheap speed,” Sharp said with a laugh Friday from his base at the Trackside training center in Louisville, Ky. “Nobody wants to see that speed-and-fade move.”
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Chris Block has sent just 10 starters to Woodbine throughout his 25-year training career but has fond memories of the track from 2011, when Never Retreat was named Canadian Horse of the Year.
“We had no clue when we left Chicago that she’d have a chance for Horse of the Year,” he said. “My dad and I were pleasantly surprised and very proud. That mare was something special. That was a lot of fun that year.”
Betting was off a couple of ticks at Emerald Downs this summer during a 72-day meeting highlighted by Stryker Phd’s victory in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile and Stopshoppingdebbie’s sustained brilliance in the older filly and mare division.
Ron Crockett, Emerald Downs’s president, said wagering during the April 12-Sept. 28 meeting slipped 2.3 percent to a daily average of $1,150,936. That all-sources handle includes betting on Emerald’s races on-site and from remote locations, plus wagers made at Emerald Downs on out-of-state full-card simulcasts.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Big Bane Theory, the winner of the Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 4, will be pointed for the Breeders’ Cup Mile on turf Nov. 1 and could be cross-entered in the $1 million Dirt Mile on Oct. 31.
Trainer Carla Gaines said Thursday that plans for a Breeders’ Cup start were finalized Wednesday after discussing options with owners and breeders Mark Devereux and Scott Gross.
