Breeders' Cup | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mackinnon Works At Santa Anita Ahead of BC Juvenile Turf

Zuma Beach Stakes winner Mackinnon worked at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., Saturday for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., this Friday, Nov. 5.

“He went really good,” Doug O'Neill said. “He went six furlongs and the clockers gave him 1:14 and four-fifths. He finished up great, galloped out good, and cooled out well.”

Exercise rider Sal Santiago was aboard the two-year-old chestnut colt by American Pharoah who won the Zuma Beach on Oct. 3 by 2 ¼ lengths under Juan Hernandez despite clipping heels on the first turn in the one-mile turf event.

The post Mackinnon Works At Santa Anita Ahead of BC Juvenile Turf appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Hot Rod Charlie Works For BC Classic At Del Mar

Hot Rod Charlie, a leading contender for the $6 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., this Saturday, worked seven furlongs at the seaside track Saturday in 1:26.80 under regular rider Flavien Prat.

“He had a good work and cooled out well,” said Santa Anita's overwhelming leading trainer, Doug O'Neill, speaking by phone from Del Mar. “By all accounts, Flavien was happy as well so we're one day closer.

“We just have to keep him injury-free and we're heading the right way.”

As to the remarkable success Team O'Neill has enjoyed at Santa Anita Park's 16-day meet, Doug said, “The races have come up right and we've had some really tremendous rides.

“The game goes in cycles and right now we're in a pretty good cycle, so we're grateful and optimistic it will keep going.”

O'Neill won two more races at the Arcadia, Calif., track Saturday, and going into today's final program, holds a 19-10 lead over runner-up Peter Miller with a winning average of 26 percent.

The post Hot Rod Charlie Works For BC Classic At Del Mar appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Week in Review: Can Jack Christopher be Brown’s First Dirt Superstar?

When pre-entries for the Breeders' Cup were announced last week it was no surprise that Chad Brown's contingent was dominated by turf horses. He has 11 entered for grass races and just three for dirt races. Since he went out on his own in 2007, Brown has established himself as the sport's best grass trainer and grass racing has always been his focus. Entering Sunday's races, he had won 1,316 turf races for a winning rate of 25% and 63.5% of his career wins had come on the grass. Brown has trained nine grass horses who won Eclipse Awards and has won so many grass stakes that it's hard to keep count. He's won 15 Breeders' Cup races, 13 in grass events.

But his most talented Breeders' Cup starter may not be a turf horse. Jack Christopher (Munnings), pre-entered in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, has looked sensational in his two career starts, including a romp in the GI Champagne S. in which he earned a 102 Beyer figure.

“He was a horse that identified himself as early on as his first work,” Brown said after the Champagne. “I was on the phone with the connections saying, 'This is potentially a really good horse. I can't believe what I just saw.' He's just been brilliant in every work. There was some buzz around him before he ran, and he lived up to it.”

An awful lot can go wrong between now and the first week of May, but should he win Friday he will be a solid early favorite for the 2022 GI Kentucky Derby. This one looks to have the potential to go places where only special horses go, which, for Brown, could mean filling in what is maybe the only hole on his resume.

It's not that Brown can't train a dirt horse. He has 756 career dirt wins and his winning rate of 25% on the main track is identical to his percentage on the turf. He has won the GI Champagne S. three times and the GI Cigar Mile twice. He has also won, among others, the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the GI Haskell S., the GI Cigar Mile H., the GI Acorn S., the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. In 2017, he snuck into Pimlico with the lightly regarded Cloud Computing (Maclean's Music) and won the GI Preakness S. at 13-1 for his lone win in a Triple Crown race. He had a nice run in 2016 with Connect (Curlin), who won the GII Pennsylvania Derby, the GI Cigar Mile H. and the GIII Westchester S.

But he's been quiet over the years in the Triple Crown preps and the Triple Crown races themselves. He's 0-for-6 in the Derby, 1-for-2 in the Preakness and 0-for-3 in the GI Belmont S.

Brown's best dirt horse to date has been Good Magic. After finishing second in the 2017 Champagne, he won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and later the GII Blue Grass S. He ran a winning race when second in the Derby, but just happened to run into a buzz saw in eventual Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy). After running fourth in the Preakness, he won the Haskell and was retired after a ninth-place finish in the GI Runhappy Travers S. Though unable to win a Triple Crown race, he proved that Brown could successfully navigate a good horse through the preps and the Triple Crown races.

He didn't fare quiet as well with his two other top prospects, 2018 Champagne winner Complexity (Maclean's Music) and 2016 winner Practical Joke (Into Mischief). Complexity finished 10th in his Breeders' Cup Juvenile and his biggest win thereafter came in the GII Kelso H. Practical Joke, now a well-regarded stallion standing at Coolmore, finished third in the Juvenile and fifth in the Derby. He later won the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. Brown has had five starters in the Juvenile overall.

Brown doesn't have anything to prove when it comes to dirt horses, but not everyone sees it that way. The Juvenile, next year's preps and the Derby itself will be seen as a test for him. He's just 42 and is arguably one of the best there's ever been. He's going to win the Kentucky Derby. Maybe as soon as next year.

What's Going On With Asmussen, Santana?

Steve Asmussen is not only the top trainer all time in wins, he is remarkably consistent. Since 1997, he's never had a year in which his stable won with less than 18% of its starters. All of which makes what went on at Keeneland so remarkable. Asmussen finished the meet Saturday with a record of 1-for-57. And it wasn't a matter of a lot of near misses. He had just seven seconds and seven thirds. Asmussen did win 14 races at other tracks during the Keeneland meet.

It was an even worse story for his go-to rider, Ricardo Santana, Jr. He was 0-for-81 with seven seconds and eight thirds. Including four races he lost at Belmont earlier in October, Santana entered Sunday's card at Churchill Downs having ridden 85 straight losers. On the year, he's won with 17% of his starters.

The last race Santana won was on Oct. 3 aboard Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the GI Frizette S. at Belmont.

Asmussen and Santana figure to bust out of their slumps any day now, but what if they don't? Both will be heavily involved in the Breeders' Cup races, including with Echo Zulu, who will be the solid favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Should handicappers look elsewhere? It's something to consider.

Watch Out For Americanrevolution

Though he was competing in restricted company, in the Empire Classic H. for New York-breds, Americanrevolution (Constitution) served notice Saturday at Belmont that he is going to be a force going forward.

A bit of a late-developer, he ran a creditable race when third against open company in the GI Pennsylvania Derby, earning a career best 101 Beyer figure.

The odds-on favorite Saturday in his next start, he took command on the turn and took off from there to win by 11 3/4 lengths. He got a 108 Beyer for the race, which puts him among the upper echelon of 3-year-old colts. Numbers-wise, he has improved in each of his six career starts.

He'll be back in 2022, and it could be a big year for him.

It was also a big day for his sire, Constitution. Twenty six minutes after the completion of the Empire Classic, Independence Hall (Constitution) won the GII Hagyard Fayette S. at Keeneland in a romp, winning by 7 1/4 lengths. A horse who has had an up-and-down career, it was his first win of 2021 and, perhaps, a sign that he, too, will take his place among the top older dirt horses next year.

The Trend Continues: Record Handle at Keeneland

Total all-sources handle for the Keeneland fall meet was $181,009,626, an all-time record for the Lexington track. Last year's fall meet handled $160,207,916.

The “boutique” meets in racing continue to show no signs of slowing down. This year, Saratoga, Del Mar and Kentucky Downs also set new records for total handle.

The post Week in Review: Can Jack Christopher be Brown’s First Dirt Superstar? appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Breeders’ Cup Breeze Report for Oct. 31: Cox Contingent on Track at Churchill

Three of trainer Brad Cox's Breeders' Cup hopefuls turned in their final works ahead of championship weekend Sunday at Churchill Downs, a day later than originally planned due to rain in the Louisville area Saturday. Aiming for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, Essential Quality (Tapit) went five furlongs in a bullet :59.40 (1/22) and Knicks Go (Paynter) covered the same distance in 1:01.20 (9/22). GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff contender Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) went her five furlongs in 1:00.80 (2/22).

“It was a great morning and all three horses put in great works,” Cox said. “It was exactly what we were looking for heading into the Breeders' Cup next week. All three of these horses were scheduled to work [Saturday], but we got a lot of rain in the area, so we moved them all to [Sunday]. Overall, it worked out really well. I thought it was a good track. It was still a little wet, but it was drying out as the morning was going on.”

Essential Quality, with jockey Florent Geroux in the saddle, breezed outside of 3-year-old allowance winner Colonel Bowman (Curlin). Last year's champion juvenile started one length back of his workmate and finished five lengths in front through splits of :23.40 and :47. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.

“Essential really loved the track this morning and it was probably the Tapit coming out of him a little bit,” Cox said. “There was a set of horses slowing down in front of them and I told Florent on the radio to gallop out by them. It was a really, really good move. A lot of people scratch their heads the way he trains in the morning compared to running in a race. That's just who he is, but I think he's really developing at the right time.”

Essential Quality, whose lone career loss was a fourth-place finish in the GI Kentucky Derby, won the GI Belmont S. and GII Jim Dandy S. and makes his first start since winning the Aug. 28 GI Runhappy Travers S. in Saturday's Classic.

Likely Classic favorite Knicks Go, with regular exercise rider Hugo Garcia up, clipped through fractions of :24.40, 36.40 and :48.60 with a six-furlong gallop out in 1:13.80 and seven furlongs in 1:27.60.

“He's just a really cool horse,” Cox said. “He's very kind when he's in his stall, but he's very aggressive, in a good way, outside of the barn. He knows his job and puts a lot into his training and works. I don't see anything from his previous races than he can't get the extra eighth-mile distance in the Classic. In the Whitney, against a field of really good horses, I thought he showed he could get an extra quarter-mile. He seems to clear off around the turn from his competition and is able to go fast and kick on.”

Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go, winner of last year's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, comes into the Classic off wins in the July 2 GIII Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H., Aug. 7 GI Whitney S. and Oct. 2 GIII Lukas Classic S.

Shedaresthedevil worked with Geroux aboard through early fractions of :24 and :48.20.

“She always gets into a good rhythm in her training and races,” Cox said. “We saw that again today. Florent worked her and she was just cruising around there. She always seems to be under the radar, even going back to when she won the Kentucky Oaks. I thought I ran her a little too quickly back in the GI Spinster S. last year. She's gotten the job done in three out of four starts this year. She doesn't run bigger figures than some of the older mares, but she is a racehorse through and through. When she gets in a battle, she shows all heart and determination to get the job done.”

Shedaresthedevil defeated likely Distaff favorite Letruska (Super Saver) when winning the GII Azeri S. in March. She comes into the Breeders' Cup off wins in the Aug. 1 GI Clement L Hirsch S. and Sept. 18 GIII Locust Grove S.

Cox has six Breeders' Cup contenders training at Churchill Downs. Along with the trio who worked Sunday, he'll also target the GI Juvenile Fillies with Juju's Map (Liam's Map), the GI Juvenile Turf with Ready to Purrform (Kitten's Joy) and the GI Juvenile Fillies Turf with Turnerloose (Nyquist).

All of the Churchill Downs-based Breeders' Cup hopefuls are scheduled to van to Indianapolis Monday at noon for a 4 p.m. flight to California.

Art Collector Tunes Up

Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector (Bernardini) tuned up for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic with a four-furlong move in :48.40 (9/29) at Del Mar Sunday.

Art Collector, winner of the GI Woodward S., was one of three Breeders' Cup horses to work at the oceanside oval Sunday for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Neil Poznansky was aboard the trio that included Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed) (Mile) going four in :47.60 (4/29) and War Like Goddess (English Channel) (Filly & Mare Turf) going a half-mile in :48.20 (8/29).

“They were all useful works, nothing blazing fast,” said Mott. “I never have a problem working good grass horses on dirt and this track looks safe and very forgiving.”

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez was aboard Bella Sofia (Awesome Patriot) as she covered a half-mile in :48.40 in preparation for the Filly & Mare Sprint.

“She's a happy girl and she loves to just go about her business,” Rodriguez said of Bella Sofia. “She handled the track well and was very comfortable on it.”

Bella Sofia, a winner of four of five career starts, is coming off wins in the Aug. 7 GI Test S. and Sept. 26 GII Gallant Bloom H.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen worked four of his six Breeders' Cup contenders Sunday at Del Mar, with likely GI Qatar Racing Sprint favorite Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) going three furlongs in :36.80. Working half-miles for Asmussen Sunday were Clairiere (Curlin) (Longines Distaff) in :49.20, Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) (NetJets Juvenile Fillies) in :50.40 and Silver State (Hard Spun) (Dirt Mile) in :48.60.

Other Del Mar dirt workers included C Z Rocket (City Zip) (Qatar Racing Sprint) going 3f in :35.80, Commander (Fr) (War Command) (Turf Sprint also-eligible) a half-mile in :48.80, Giant Game (Giant's Causeway) (TVG Juvenile) a half-mile in :48.60, and the Richard Mandella-trained duo of Dogtag (War Front) (Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf) and Bombard (War Front) (Turf Sprint also-eligible) working five furlongs in :58.20 and :58.40, respectively, in company.

Working over the Del Mar turf Sunday were: Mo Forza (Uncle Mo), a two-time winner of the GII Del Mar Mile, worked a half-mile in :49.40 for the FanDuel Mile for trainer Peter Miller. Shortly after Mo Forza finished his work, Going to Vegas (Goldencents) worked a half-mile in :49.20 for trainer Richard Baltas in preparation for the Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf.

Also working on the turf were Time to Party (Kantharos) (Juvenile Turf Sprint) going three furlongs in :38.20, Charmaine's Mia (The Factor) (Turf Sprint) going a half-mile in :50.20, Extravagant Kid (Kiss the Kid) (Turf Sprint) a half-mile in :49.40 in company with Zofelle (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}); and Cairo Memories (Cairo Prince) (Juvenile Fillies Turf) going five furlongs in 1:04.40.

In other Breeders' Cup works Sunday, GII Zenyatta S. winner Private Mission (Into Mischief) worked five furlongs in a bullet :58.80 (1/44) for trainer Bob Baffert at Santa Anita.

Breeders' Cup Defections

Trainer Richard Baltas withdrew Idol (Curlin) from consideration forthe GI Breeders' Cup Classic after the GI Santa Anita H. winner worked five furlongs in company in 1:02.40. Baltas told Breeders' Cup officials that he did not feel Idol was 100%.

Also Sunday, trainer Ken McPeek reported that GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity winner Rattle N Roll (Connect) would not be entered in the GI TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

“He came out of his workout with what looks like a left hind foot abcess,” McPeek tweeted Sunday.

Two other horses were withdrawn from Breeders' Cup consideration by their connections Sunday morning: Flagstaff (Speightstown) from the Qatar Racing Sprint and Reina de Mollendo (Arg) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) from the Maker's Mark Filly & Mare Turf.

Breeders' Cup Draw Live on TVG & Streamed

The Rood & Riddle Breeders' Cup Post-Position Draw for the 2021 Breeders' Cup World Championships will be shown live on Monday from Del Mar, beginning at 2:30pm PT/5:30pm ET.

All 14 races will be drawn and announced live on TVG, along with BreedersCup.com, the Breeders' Cup mobile app, and Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages.

The Rood & Riddle Breeders' Cup Post-Position Draw will be hosted by Britney Eurton and Nick Luck.

The post Breeders’ Cup Breeze Report for Oct. 31: Cox Contingent on Track at Churchill appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post