Tag: Breeders’ Cup

Versatility ‘Never Hurts’: United Could Be The Early Leader Or Could Stalk Pace In The Turf

United will be back this weekend to contest his second Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf, and his connections will no doubt be hoping he can turn around last year's painfully-close second-place finish behind Bricks and Mortar.

This year, trainer Richard Mandella said he'll be coming in with a new weapon: a running style discovered in his win in the G2 John Henry Turf Championship last time out.

“We decided to just jump him out, put him on the lead, and stay out of trouble,” said Mandella. “He'd been in trouble the race before and it may have cost him winning. We thought we'd let him jump out there and he really liked it. It gives us the feeling that we have options now to do whatever feels best.”

Previously, United had been prone to stalk an early leader going at a slow or moderate pace, and wait farther back off a hot pace. It's possible the newfound versatility could give him an edge over the many European invaders in the race, including formidable foes in Magical (IRE) and Mehdaayih (GB), but Mandella wasn't tipping his hand when it came to race strategy on Thursday.

“It never hurts to have the versatility option to go either way,” Mandella said. “But it's too early — I haven't seen enough of the field yet to handicap and figure out what our best strategy is. I'll pretty much leave that up to Flavien Prat, a great jockey.”

United has been first or second in all his starts going back to the 2019 John Henry, and Mandella said he feels good about the gelding coming into the weekend. He does anticipate a challenger in Channel Maker, the Bill Mott trainee who won this year's Sword Dancer by an impressive 5 3/4 lengths, but he doesn't focus too much on other horses, preferring to keep eyes on his own work.

Since he's a gelding, Mandella said it's likely United will be back for a 6-year-old campaign. He'd tried to take the horse to this year's G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, but evolving travel lockdowns due to COVID-19 meant he brought the horse to Dubai, schooled him in the paddock, and promptly learned they had to head home. It might be nice to try again, Mandella said in a press conference Thursday, depending upon what international travel protocols are by March 2021.

“I fully intend to keep him around as long as he's healthy and happy,” said Mandella.

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Stall: The 3-Year-Olds Are The X Factor In This Year’s Classic

The Breeders' Cup will be one of the few major events in American racing taking place at its normal place in the calendar this year, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. But Tom's d'Etat trainer Al Stall Jr., said that we shouldn't forget that the schedule disruptions from earlier this year could still have an impact on the Classic.

“I don't think anyone's ever gone into the Classic and said it's a soft field,” Stall said. “There are a lot of superlatives talking about these horses and I agree. I think the X factor is the 3-year-olds. Because of the way the Triple Crown laid out these year, they've had a nice progression into the race. There are two 3-year-olds that really got my attention — obviously, Tiz the Law and Authentic — and that's a little bit different than in years past. Sometimes you'll get a 3-year-old who's a little bit down and out. Obviously Pharoah was the exception to that.

“It's all about the trip and the luck from here on out.”

Stall does not expect any one horse will be allowed to take an uncontested easy lead, and much of the race will come down to strategy. He's hopeful Tom's d'Etat can sit off the early going, but it will come down to how the traffic plays out.

Perhaps surprisingly, Stall said there's no one horse in this field that intimidates him more than any other, or even a handful. Stall said there are eight contenders (though he did not name them) he thinks could pull off a win.

If he were to win the Classic, Tom's d'Etat will have done it off one of the longest layoffs since Invasor (ARG) in 2006. Stall said the break from the Aug. 1 Grade 1 Whitney to the Classic was a combination of design and circumstance. He considered sending the horse to the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup but when the stakes schedule was released, he realized that gave him 28 days to get the horse from one effort to the next. Stall's gut told him to bring the 7-year-old in fresh. He let the horse relax for a little while, the began ramping up his breezes in mid-September and sent him out for an easy four-furlong work Oct. 31, which reminded him of the final work from Blame in 2010.

“He just went out there by himself and was looking around and stretching his legs,” said Stall. “He seems to have benefitted from that because he has seemed very, very comfortable all week.”

Much of the media attention (and likely, eventually, wagering) will be on Tiz the Law and the Baffert trio. It isn't the first time Stall has come into the Classic hoping to steal the spotlight. Zenyatta's loss to Blame was a heartbreaker for many in racing, but Stall has happy memories of that strange, quiet night at Churchill Downs.

“I just remember afterwards it was a perfectly clear, crisp, Kentucky fall evening and the sky was coral and the black was coming in. We were so happy for all the connections, everybody involved, the horse himself,” Stall remembered. “Our little pocket celebrated quite loudly while the rest of the grandstand was silent but we didn't notice that.”

Stall confirmed Tom's d'Etat will be retired after Saturday's races. Earlier this year, it was announced he will take up stud duties at WinStar farm.

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O’Brien: Battleground ‘Very Like Found,’ Redemption-Seeking Magical ‘An Incredible Mare’

Trainer Aidan O'Brien's 10 Breeders' Cup hopefuls stepped out on the track at Keeneland for the first time on Thursday, and he later spoke to At The Races about some of their chances for Friday and Saturday's World Championship contests.

The likely favorite for Friday's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf will be Battleground, the 2-year-old first foal out of 2015 Breeders' Cup Turf winner Found. That edition of the World Championships was also held at Keeneland, so it would be especially poignant if Battleground could deliver a Breeders' Cup victory over the same course.

Thus far, Battleground has raced three times and won twice, including a win in his most recent start, the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood on July 28.

“That day in Keeneland with Found was unbelievable,” O'Brien told At The Races. “(Battleground is) big, powerful, strong, and he's very like Found, his dam, and then he has this pace from War Front as well. So he's a horse we're looking forward to running.

“He's in good order and it looks like the time has done him really well. He hasn't ran since Goodwood, so you'd be very happy with him. Of course, it's going to be good experience for him and I think we're going to learn a lot about him. I think he's a horse maybe to really look forward to seeing what he's going to do.”

Magical, trained by Aidan P. O'Brien, exercises in preparation for the Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland Racetrack in Lexington, Kentucky on November 5, 2020.

Additionally, O'Brien will send out 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up Magical in this year's edition of the $4 million contest. The seven-time Group 1 winner was defeated three-quarters of a length by champion Enable in 2018, and is in search of redemption in this year's contest.

The 5-year-old Galileo mare has won three Group 1 races this year alone and has not finished worse than third all season. Her victories include a 3/4-length triumph over Ghaiyyath in the G1 Irish Champion Stakes, a horse who was at that time considered the best in Europe this year.

“She's an unbelievable filly,” O'Brien told At The Races. “She's ran at the top level all the time, from the time she's a 2-year-old every year, she's danced every dance, traveled everywhere. She's very brave. She's very comfortable, really, from a mile to a mile and a half, which is very unusual. She's very brave, stays well, good mind. She's an incredible mare really.

“Everyone loves her and she's very special.”

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Breen: Breeders’ Cup Sprint Contender Firenze Fire ‘As Honest As They Come’

Mr. Amore Stable's Firenze Fire galloped 1 1/8 miles Thursday morning at Keeneland in preparation for his fourth career Breeders' Cup start in Saturday's Sprint.

The 5-year-old son of Poseidon's Warrior will make his first Breeders' Cup start for trainer Kelly Breen, who accepted him and approximately 20 Mr. Amore Stable runners into his stable last winter from the barn of indicted trainer Jason Servis.

“It took a while for me to see the horse because of the pandemic. I was in Florida. My assistant, John Attfield, sent me pictures and videos to show me how well he looked. I've seen him race before, but it was a while before I laid eyes on him,” said Breen, who recently saddled Firenze Fire's 3-year-old sister, Firenze Freedom for an allowance win at Belmont Park. “He's a nice looking horse. He's got a lot of muscle. He's straightforward. He trains well. He does everything we ask of him.”

Firenze Fire has won two of five starts for Breen with two subpar showings coming over off tracks. He made his first start for Breen with a fourth-place finish in the June 6 Carter Handicap on a sloppy Belmont strip and won his first race for his new trainer three weeks later in the True North over a fast Belmont track. Firenze Fire was beaten two lengths while finishing fourth in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga before running 11th over a sloppy track at Saratoga in the Forego.

“The only bumps in the road I've had with him were on off tracks. He doesn't like the mud,” Breen said. “You throw those couple races out and he's as honest as they come.”

Firenze Fire rebounded from his Forego disappointment with a 2 ¾-length victory in the Vosburgh at Belmont, which was a “Win and You're In' Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race.

“We were extremely excited when he won a 'Win and You're In' because there's no contemplating, because you're going once you've got a 'Win and You're In' under your belt,” Breen said. “He showed that he belonged, and the 'Win and You're In' stamps your ticket to the Breeders' Cup.”

Breen wouldn't have had to contemplate long to determine that Firenze Fire deserves a shot at a Sprint victory Saturday.

“I look at the Thoro-Graphs and the Ragozin sheets. He runs fast. His bounce numbers seem to be on an off track, and his numbers are fast enough to put him in there with this bunch,” he said.

Firenze Fire, who captured the Champagne at two, finished off the board in the 2017 Breeder's Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. He finished fourth in the Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs in 2018 and fifth in the Sprint last year at Santa Anita.

Breen will also be seeking his first Breeders' Cup success after notching third-place finishes with 2011 Belmont Stakes winner Ruler On Ice (2011 Classic) and multiple graded-stakes winner Pants on Fire (2014 Dirt Mile).

“Pants On Fire reminds me of this horse. Pants on Fire didn't win a stakes as a 2-year-old and this horse did, but he won a stakes as a 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7-year-old,” Breen said. “Knowing a little about what it takes to keep a horse going at an older age reminds me a lot about Firenze Fire.”

Jose Lezcano, who was aboard for his Vosburgh score, has the return call aboard Firenze Fire in the Sprint.

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