ELMONT, N.Y. – While her connections were not prepared to make it official Saturday, all indications are that Princess of Sylmar is headed to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.
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Mucho Macho Man, in his first work since capturing the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes two weeks ago, went a half-mile in company at Santa Anita on Saturday, the first of three breezes scheduled by trainer Kathy Ritvo as final preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2.
Also Saturday, another Classic contender, Moreno, went a half-mile in 48 seconds.
Ritvo said she caught Mucho Macho Man in 47.70 seconds, “but I caught the finish a little late, so he went quicker than that,” she said. Track clockers gave him a time of 47.40.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Tamarando, the winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 4, will not run in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 2 but will start in the $200,000 Golden State Juvenile on Nov. 1, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said.
Hollendorfer said the decision is based on the Breeders’ Cup’s policy of banning the use of the anti-bleeder medication Lasix in the BC Juvenile and other 2-year-old races Nov. 1-2.
“We can’t use Lasix and don’t want to chance him bleeding in that race and sacrificing some of his career,” Hollendorfer said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Little Mike had his first breeze since his win in the Sept. 28 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic when going an easy five furlongs in 1:03 on Saturday over a fast main track at Churchill Downs. Little Mike, along with three of his Dale Romans-trained stablemates, was booked on an equine charter flight Monday to Southern California, where they will resume preparations at Santa Anita for the Nov. 1-2 Breeders’ Cup.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Doug O’Neill had considered 3-year-old filly Wittgenstein an outside candidate for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. Then, he checked her status with the Breeders’ Cup.O’Neill said on Friday that Wittgenstein is not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup, meaning owners Paul and Zillah Reddam would have to pay a $100,000 nomination fee before the pre-entries are due on Oct. 21 to start in the BC Distaff.
Wittgenstein starts on Sunday in an optional claimer at a mile at Santa Anita which will determine her Breeders’ Cup status.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The turf course at Gulfstream Park will get a little breather after this weekend, with no grass races to be carded until Nov. 2. But the final race to be run over the grass for the next couple of weeks figures to be a good one, an open allowance event at 1 1/16 miles that drew a field of 10, including graded-stakes-caliber horses Cash Rules, Mucho Mas Macho, and Salto.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – According to Glen Todd, a leading owner of horses at Hastings and a member of the British Columbia Horse Racing Industry Management Committee, an “agreement in principle” has been reached on dates for Hastings next year.
The committee is in charge of managing the horse racing industry in British Columbia, setting the dates as well as allocating the money that is split among the Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, and Great Canadian Gaming Corp., the operators of Hastings and Fraser Downs, the local Standardbred track.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Tyler Baze, who has not ridden since June 13, completed a 60-day residency stay at a Southern California alcohol treatment center earlier this week and has traveled to Washington state to exercise horses for an intended comeback, according to his agent, Craig O’Bryan.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Barring a setback in her training, Close Hatches, a three-time graded stakes-winning 3-year-old filly, will run in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, trainer Bill Mott said Friday.
“She deserves a chance to be in there,” Mott said on an overcast fall morning at Belmont Park. “She will be.”
Close Hatches gives Mott a potent 1-2 punch for the Distaff, in which he also will run the race’s two-time defending winner, Royal Delta. Mott has won the Distaff five times, including the last three, when it was called the Ladies’ Classic.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The relatively low Beyer Speed Figures earned by the winners of the two Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds on opening weekend of the Keeneland fall meet had at least one person involved – trainer Mark Casse – wondering, “How is that possible?”
My Conquestadory, trained by Casse, earned a 74 Beyer figure in an otherwise highly impressive victory in the Oct. 4 Darley Alcibiades, while We Miss Artie, trained by Todd Pletcher, received just a 70 in capturing the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity the following day after a major rainstorm.