Tag: Keeneland

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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‘The Light In Our Lives’: Andie Biancone Enjoying The Ride With Breeders’ Cup Hope Diamond Oops

Assistant trainer Andie Biancone took Diamond Oops for a jog over the Keeneland track Thursday morning in preparation for a start in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Biancone has been overseeing the 5-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky's daily activities at Keeneland this week while subbing for her father, Patrick Biancone, who had been fighting cancer for several months. Although he is cancer-free now, the elder Biancone is in a Covid-19 high-risk group and so opted not to travel from his South Florida base at Palm Meadows Training Center.

Andie Biancone, who serves as his assistant trainer and exercise rider, also has represented her father at the Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Derby with Sole Volante.

“It's been a crazy year,” said the 23-year-old Biancone, who admits that her busy schedule has somewhat affected her grades for her online courses at the University of Florida.

She's able to escape all the craziness for a little while, at least, when she climbs aboard Diamond Oops, who enters the Sprint off back-to-back wins in the Phoenix at Keeneland and the Twin Spires Turf Sprint.

“Even without winning all those races, he's special to us. My dad always believed in him and has always been high on him. This past year with my dad getting sick, he's been my escape. I've been getting on him every day. It sounds super lame, but it's like therapy. He has such a big heart. It's so amazing being around him,” she said.

“I've been galloping him for about a year and a half. A couple of months ago, he literally dropped me and he stopped and waited for me to get back on him. He waited for me on the track and I got back on him,” she added. “He's so intelligent. His last breeze, I got emotional. I was, like 'What did I do to deserve such an amazing animal in my life?' ”

The versatile Diamond Oops, who was Grade I stakes-placed on turf and dirt last year, ran in the 2019 Dirt Mile, in which he encountered a troubled start and finished eighth at Santa Anita. He came right back to win the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream seven weeks later and stretched out to finish fourth in the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream. He rallied from 12th to win the 5 1/2-furlong Twin Spires Turf Sprint and stalked the pace before kicking in late to win the Phoenix.

“He has such a big heart and is so intelligent, he's like a person. He has a huge personality,” Biancone said. “He's the light in our lives, for my dad, for me.”

Biancone would like to see Diamond Oops get a similar trip in the Sprint as he got in the Phoenix.

“He's really versatile. You can cover him easily. He's a really good stalker. Hopefully, he gets a good break and come with that closing kick,” she said. “When he sees another horse in front of him, it's game on.”

Florent Geroux has the return mount aboard Diamond Oops, who is owned by Diamond 100 Racing Club LLC, Amy Dunne, D P Racing LLC and Patrick Biancone Racing LLC.

The post ‘The Light In Our Lives’: Andie Biancone Enjoying The Ride With Breeders’ Cup Hope Diamond Oops appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Haiku Handicapper Presented By Form2Win: 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile

Time to analyze the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.

To read previous editions of The Haiku Handicapper, click here.

#1 – Camp Hope
Impressive debut
Launches him in the deep end
This is a big ask

#2 – King Fury
Matured last time out
He's bred for a day like this
Must keep progressing

#3 – Reinvestment Risk
He's the class leader
If we pretend to ignore
Jackie's Warrior

#4 – Likeable
Late-bloom potential
Given his form, pedigree
Eye him for a price

#5 – Essential Quality
Classy pedigree
Classy Grade 1 progression
All the tools are there

#6 – Keepmeinmind
Shock second last out
And he nabs Jose Ortiz
A “hit the board” threat

#7 – Jackie's Warrior
The mountain to scale
Does he meet the hype head-on
Or begin descent?

#8 – Classier
Others have done more
But you can't ignore his barn
Off a hot debut

#9 – Sittin On Go
His dad loved Keeneland
Short-stretch finish line won't help
His deep-closing ways

#10 – Dreamer's Disease
The lesser entry
Of the Diodoro pair
Put bluntly, he'd shock

#11 – Next
Dual surface winner
Gaudy last-out score misleads
Not sure it's his spot

#12 – Hot Rod Charlie
Found new life on dirt
Great fit for an “other than”
Not the Breeders' Cup

#13 – Rombauer
Switch to dirt paid off
Another that might be felled
By Keeneland's short stretch

#14 – Calibrate
He'll have to run wide
And show something he didn't
In his limp class jump

Prediction
Good day for Darley
“Quality” tops Likeable
Eight, three fill it out

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