ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Mike Hushion remembers the days when it was easy to tell that the upcoming race was for New York-breds.
“They all looked like greyhounds walking into the paddock,” Hushion said.
That is far from the case nowadays. The advancements in the New York-bred program have been ongoing for years. Better-bred horses have led to bigger accomplishments. Of course, none was bigger than when Funny Cide captured the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2003.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Velvet Mesquite, who won her first stakes in the $101,250 California Distaff Handicap last Saturday at Santa Anita, may shoot for a more prestigious prize in the $100,000 Sen. Ken Maddy Stakes on Nov. 1.
Trainer Blake Heap said Wednesday that he would like to try Velvet Mesquite in the Grade 3 Maddy to gain another start on a surface that the filly has proven to like.
“She seemed like she handled this race pretty good,” Heap said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The first plane of domestic shippers for the Breeders’ Cup races arrived in Southern California on Tuesday, a group that included BC Classic hopeful Prayer for Relief and Little Alexis, a candidate for the BC Filly and Mare Sprint.
The other arrivals included Rainha Da Bateria (Juvenile Fillies Turf), Private Prospect (Juvenile), Fast Anna (Sprint), Danny Boy (Juvenile Turf), Flying Tipat (Juvenile Fillies Turf), and Cristina’s Journey (Juvenile Fillies).
On Monday, the Breeders’ Cup Mile lost its favorite, but one day later, it officially found another one.
Not that there is any replacing Wise Dan, whose ankle injury, announced Monday, will keep him from attempting to win the Mile for the third year in a row. Wise Dan apparently hurt himself while winning the Shadwell Turf Mile on Oct. 4, sustaining a small fracture in his lower right foreleg, and whether the 7-year-old gelding races again won’t be determined for weeks, if not months.
Trainer Wesley Ward calls European-based jockey Frankie Dettori a real card.
“He’s one of the funniest guys you’ll ever have dinner with,” Ward said this week. “He will make you laugh.”
Ward added that on the track, the rider is world class, and he plans to play the Dettori card in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, as the jockey has been engaged to ride Hootenanny. Ward has chosen to train the horse up to the Oct. 31 race at Santa Anita off his second-place finish in the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville on Aug. 24.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Thank You Marylou apparently is the only one of 13 3-year-old fillies in the Raven Run Stakes likely to wheel back two weeks later in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in case of a big effort.
But that in itself will take some doing, as the opposition in the seven-furlong Saturday feature at Keeneland includes such talented foes as Miss Behaviour, Cassatt, and Pirate’s Trove.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After watching Upstart finish second in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park on Oct. 4, trainer Rick Violette wasn’t rushing to his nearest travel agent to book a trip to Southern California for the Breeders’ Cup.
Having to ship across the country to run against a heavily favored, extremely talented, and locally based colt in American Pharoah wasn’t necessarily appealing.
The ranks of prospective pre-entrants for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita now include Prayer for Relief and Noble Moon, bringing to at least 16 the number of horses expected to be pre-entered Monday.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Starspangled Heat may not lack for recent racing experience when he starts as an outsider in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.
Trainer Barry Abrams said last weekend that Starspangled Heat is a candidate for the BC Turf and might run in the $75,000 Lure Stakes over a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 26 as a prep race. The Lure Stakes is restricted to horses who have not won a stakes worth $55,000 or more to the winner in races at a mile or longer this year, other than statebred races.
European filly Just The Judge’s time of laying low has passed. Unraced for two months since shipping to America and finishing third Aug. 16 in the Grade 1 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington, she is set to return to competition Sunday in the Grade 1, $500,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine.
That could be just the beginning of a busy couple of weeks. Her trainer, Charles Hills, posted on his website: “If she runs well, she will stay in Canada and then ship down to California to run in the Breeders’ Cup.”
She would go Nov. 1 in the BC Filly and Mare Turf.
