With the Breeders' Cup World Championships now less than two weeks away, hopefuls from across the country stretched their legs Saturday morning.
• GI Breeders' Cup Classic favorite and the world's top-rated racehorse California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) breezed five panels in 1:00.40 (6/33) at his Los Alamitos base Saturday (video). “Very good” trainer Art Sherman said of the breeze. “The official clocker (Russell Hudak) gave him a 1:00.40 and a gallop out of [1:13]. I got him in :59 4/5 and out in 1:13, but it doesn't make any difference.”
• Other West Coast-based Classic contenders to breeze Saturday were GI Jockey Club Gold Cup hero Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday), four furlongs at Santa Anita in :47.80 (8/53); and track-and-trip MGISW Melatonin (Kodiak Kowboy), one mile in Arcadia in 1:41.20. The latter worked under regular rider Joe Talamo, and conditioner David Hofmans said, “I'm very happy and Joe was very happy. Joe said he had a lot of horse left and we got a lot of air in him.”
• Gormley (Malibu Moon), among the leading candidates for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile off his upset in the local GI FrontRunner S. Oct. 1, was originally scheduled to breeze Sunday, but instead went out Saturday in Arcadia for a six-furlong spin in 1:14 flat (8/19). “We just moved it up a day,” explained trainer John Shirreffs. “He'll work again next Saturday.”
• Keeneland's Saturday breezers included a pair of Bill Mott-trained turfers in Tourist (Tiznow) and Celestine (Scat Daddy). The former, a winner of the GI Fourstardave H. two starts back and most recently third in Keeneland's GI Shadwell Turf Mile S. Oct. 8, worked in company with stablemate Theophilia (Flatter). He was credited with four furlongs in :49 flat with a 1:02.20 gallop-out (video)–the 18th fastest of 44 drills at that distance on the dirt. “We just wanted to see a maintenance half,” said WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden of the GI BC Mile contender, who is owned by WinStar in partnership with Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber. “He's in peak form, so he doesn't need to do a lot. We're good.”
Celestine was a smashing winner of Belmont's one-turn-mile GI Longines Just a Game S. in June, and was third in the GI First Lady S. Oct. 8. She'll cut back for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at 6 1/2 furlongs down the hill. The 4-year-old filly worked just three furlongs Saturday in :36.40 (1/7) (video). “[Last year] she won a seven-furlong race at Belmont and she showed a lot of speed at Gulfstream when she broke her maiden and won a little overnight stakes,” Mott assistant Rodolphe Brisset explained of the decision to cut Celestine back. “We feel pretty comfortable shortening her up. She bounced back really, really good from the [First Lady]. The breeze today was very good. We really didn't want to do too much.”
• Several of Mark Casse's top Breeders' Cup prospects worked at Churchill Downs, including Tepin (Bernstein) and Keep Quiet (Fr) (Elusive City), who worked in company covering four furlongs on the dirt in :48.40 (10/102); and Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile), five furlongs in 1:01.60 (17/43).
• Not This Time (Giant's Causeway), an ultra-impressive winner of Churchill's GIII Iroquois S. Sept. 17 for Albaugh Family Stable and Dale Romans, breezed five panels back under the Twin Spires in 1:01.20.
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