ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Bob Baffert has won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile three times. However, he is winless with four favorites in the race dating back to 1999.
That streak most certainly will be tested in this year’s $2 million Juvenile on Nov. 1, when Baffert sends out American Pharoah, who solidified his status as the Juvenile favorite with a devastatingly easy 3 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita, the site of this year’s Breeders’ Cup.
Fed Biz and Sky Kingdom, who were second and last in the seven-runner Awesome Again Stakes, will start in stakes on Breeders’ Cup weekend.
Fed Biz will be pointed for the $1 million BC Dirt Mile on Oct. 31 and not the $5 million BC Classic, Baffert said.
“He answered the question,” Baffert said of a preferred race for Fed Biz.
In the Awesome Again, Fed Biz finished a neck behind Shared Belief, who had a wide trip.
Secret Circle, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last year, worked five furlongs in 59 seconds Sunday, preparing for Saturday’s $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.
Secret Circle has not raced since finishing second in the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Stakes here last February. He was in training last spring and was rested until resuming workouts in late July.
“He looked good,” trainer Bob Baffert said of the workout. “I think he should get a lot out of it.”
Punctuate will be a 2-year-old to follow after the well-bred colt won his debut in a maiden race over 6 1/2 furlongs Saturday.
On Sunday, trainer Bob Baffert stopped short of committing Punctuate for a Breeders’ Cup race.
Owned by Arnold Zetcher, Punctuate ($20) is by Distorted Humor out of Peppers Pride, who was undefeated in 19 starts in New Mexico from 2005 to 2008. Punctuate was purchased for $300,000 as a yearling at Keeneland in 2013.
In Saturday’s race, Punctuate closed from last of 12 to win by 1 3/4 lengths over Bronze Star.
ARCADIA, Calif – Moulin de Mougin will be trained toward the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 despite falling in Saturday’s Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes.
Trainer Richard Mandella said Sunday that Moulin de Mougin escaped injury in the incident, which occurred about a quarter-mile from the finish of the race over 1 1/4 miles on turf. Moullin de Mougin was racing on the outside of the field and making progress on the leaders when she fell. Jockey Mike Smith told Mandella that Moulin de Mougin clipped heels with a rival.
ELMONT, N.Y. - In Main Sequence, trainer Graham Motion has a top-flight contender for the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf. Unfortunately, it appears as though he will need a new rider for his three-time Grade 1 winning colt.
One race after Main Sequence won Saturday’s $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park, his rider, Rajiv Maragh, went down in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and suffered a broken right arm. Maragh underwent surgery on Sunday, but it is highly unlikely the 29-year-old rider will be able to make it back in five weeks.
Wicked Strong, who clipped heels with Moreno and unseated jockey Rajiv Maragh during the running of Saturday’s $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park, came out of the race in good order, but may not run again this year, according to trainer Jimmy Jerkens.
"There's a chance we might give Wicked the rest of the year off,” Jerkens told the New York Racing Association publicity department. “He's okay and everything, but he's grinded it out pretty good and we hope to have a nice handicap horse next year."
ARCADIA, Calif. – Shared Belief emerged in good condition from his eventful, winning journey in the Awesome Again Stakes on Saturday, but his trainer and co-owner, Jerry Hollendorfer, on Sunday morning at Santa Anita said the hard race would likely cause him to train Shared Belief differently than anticipated prior to his next start, the Breeders’ Cup Classic here on Nov. 1.
“I guess a good, hard race isn’t ideal, but I won’t have to train him as hard as I normally do,” Hollendorfer said.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Tonalist and Zivo, the first two finishers from Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, will both be pointed to the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, but will both do all their major preparations in New York before shipping to Southern California the week of the race, their trainers said Sunday morning.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Bill Kaplan was all smiles after training hours here Saturday morning, and well he should have been after watching several of his stable stars turn in sharp workouts over a main track that had finally dried out after a week of rain.
