ARCADIA, Calif. – When the field reaches deep stretch in Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in Paris, racing fans seeking clues for the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 may be best served by watching the also-rans.
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DRF Past Performances
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mischief Clem won his debut at Del Mar on Sept. 1 with such ease that the colt seemed more in a gallop than racing as he drew off to win by 7 1/4 lengths.
“I could never have expected that,” trainer Bob Hess Jr. said Wednesday. “I was pleasantly surprised but not shocked.”
Mischief Clem beat maidens over 5 1/2 furlongs in that race and makes his first start over six furlongs in a first-level optional $50,000 claimer for California-breds at Santa Anita on Friday.
The local jockey colony will gain a couple new editions with the opening of the Gulfstream Park West meet at Calder next Wednesday, with both Leandro Goncalves and David Cohen having moved their tack to South Florida for the winter.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Stanley Gold, as expected, will dominate the entries for Saturday’s In Reality Stakes, the finale in the open division of the Florida Sire Stakes. Gold will send out four starters in the race, including Sing Praises and Twotwentyfive A, the winners of the first two legs of the series. But the most intriguing horse in the lineup may be the maiden Royal Squeeze, who has shipped down from New York from the potent barn of trainer Chad Brown.
The prospective starting lineup for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint should come into focus before the weekend runs its course, with the final two Win and You’re In races for the event to take place Friday at Keeneland and Saturday at Santa Anita Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The field for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff will solidify after the final prep race, the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland on Sunday, in which Close Hatches is expected to be strongly favored.
Meanwhile at Santa Anita, challenges remain for Distaff candidates whose prep races are already behind them.
Iotapa bled and was placed on the vet’s list after finishing third Saturday in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes. Trainer John Sadler downplayed the episode, and expects Iotapa will be removed from the vet’s list after her next workout.
Trainer Michael Stidham is hoping that a strong performance by Her Emmynency in the $100,000 Surfer Girl at Santa Anita on Sunday will stamp her as a serious contender in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Oct. 31.
The Grade 1 Alcibiades on Friday and the Grade 1 Frizette on Saturday will play pivotal roles in determining who moves on to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
The Alcibiades, at 1 1/16 miles around two turns on Keeneland’s new dirt track, has drawn a competitive field of 13, headed by the undefeated Schuylerville Stakes winner Fashion Alert. The Frizette, at a mile around one turn at Belmont Park, includes early division leader Cavorting, the impressive winner of the Adirondack Stakes.
International Star had a less-than-ideal trip when second in the With Anticipation Stakes, which could prove to be a key North American prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 31. His trainer, Mike Maker, is hoping for smoother sailing Sunday, when International Star starts in the Grade 3, $250,000 Bourbon at Keeneland.
There is almost certainly, at this time of year, no horse in Florida who can run with the 3-year-old colt Atreides, and so, unbeaten and essentially untested, it is out into the wider world Atreides goes.
On Thursday, Atreides was scheduled to board a plane and fly north, and when he settles into a stall again, it will be on the backstretch of Indiana Grand Casino and Racing, where Atreides could find his first real challenge Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Indiana Derby.