Breeders' Cup News & Notes: Nov. 2
Beholder wins the Distaff
European-trained Outstrip, Chriselliam and London Bridge were reported to be in great shape after their three Breeders’ Cup victories Friday afternoon.
Juvenile Turf victor Outstrip, who gave trainer Charlie Appleby his first Breeders’ Cup win with his first World Championships runner, will now winter in Newmarket before being aimed at the first colts classic of 2014, the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in early May.
Simon Crisford, Godolphin’s racing manager was thrilled by the performance Friday and said, “We will aim him at all of the top mile races next season the 2000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes are the ones we are thinking about at the moment. It is a very exciting time for us as he is a homebred.”
Willie Carson and partners’Chriselliam also gave Charlie Hills his first Breeders’ cup win, which his father Barry never was able to achieve, when winning the Juvenile Fillies Turf. She will be aimed at the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket next May.
Charlie Hills said of Chriselliam’s win, “This has put the icing on the cake for what has been a good year. I am looking forward to getting her home and getting her ready for next year’s 1000 Guineas.”
London Bridge, who outstayed the rest of the field when winning the Breeders’ Cup Marathon and who was sold prior to Friday’s races, will be sent to race in Australia.
Trainer Mike Machowsky informed the Breeders’ Cup racing office Saturday morning that he had to withdraw Turf Sprint horse Caracortado from the race due to a problem with his right front foot. The 6yo gelding had been listed at 8-1 in the 14-horse lineup with Gary Stevens scheduled to ride.
“He picked up a piece of cinder in his coronet band of his right front foot at some point this week and it turned into an abscess,” the trainer said Saturday morning. “It’s the same foot he had those frog issues (that had sidelined him for more than a year and a half), but this is a different thing.
“The cinder came out and the abscess cleared, but he’s still tender. It’s like a blister breaking; there’s still a sore spot there. We jog him down the road and he takes some good steps, then some bad ones. He’s just sensitive with it, and with this kind of horses and this kind of race you just can’t go unless you’re fully ready.”
Machowsky was down, but still had hope for the long-running project that has been multiple-stakes winner Caracortado.
“We can’t run today, but I think he’s going to be fine,” he offered. “We’ll give him some time off and I think he’ll come back around. It’s been hard working all this time with this horse, but he’s worth it. And we hope he’s going to prove that again.”
This is the second year in a row that Machowsky has lost a horse on the eve of the Breeders’ Cup. Last year he had to scratch scheduled Marathon runner Worth Repeating.
· Doug O’Neill (Goldencents, winner, Dirt Mile) – Trainer Doug O’Neill was still on Cloud Nine Saturday morning following a scintillating victory by Goldencents in the Dirt Mile Friday.
“He came out of it great,” said O’Neill. “What a horse. He’s a true champion. It doesn’t matter what distance you throw at him, he’ll show up and run a top race.”
O’Neill said he received a text from University of Louisville Hall of Fame basketball coach Rick Pitino, a minority owner of the 3yo colt, after the race, “He was real excited. He was happy and congratulated everybody. He was all pumped up.”
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O’Neill said that Goldencents probably would make his next start in the Malibu Stakes for 3yos at 7f here Dec. 26.
Assistant Leandro Mora also was elated with the performance of Goldencents and was grateful that he returned in top order. “We have a healthy horse this morning; he cleaned up,” said Mora.
Mora admitted his concern about the outcome after seeing the scorching early fractions set by Goldencents, “To be honest, when I saw those fractions early I thought ‘We’re cooked. We’re done.’ Then I started screaming for him to hold on. I was impressed how well he did. He was super.”
·Richard Mandella – It was a relatively quiet Friday night and a happy Saturday morning for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella following the victory by his 3yo filly Beholder in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
“I’ve got a terrific horse there,” he said of the homebred daughter of Henny Hughes.
Did the trainer party Friday night?
“No, not me,” he said. “Just a quiet evening at home. We did watch some of the Breeders’ Cup TV show. Golly, the track just looked great and, of course, we loved watching that race.”
The trainer had a special recollection of the 1 1/8m Distaff and it happened on the backstretch as Beholder moved up outside front running Authenticity.
“Gary (Stevens on Beholder) had a hold on her and she was just cruising,” he said. “Then I saw him reach and take another hold and – even though he had – she just went on by that other filly. When I saw that, I said ‘Oh, boy.’”
Mandella said the plan now is to put the filly away for a while.
“From the sound of what Mr. Hughes (owner and breeder B. Wayne Hughes of Spendthrift Farm) said yesterday in the interviews, he’s going to want to race her again next year,” he said. “That’s plenty fine with me. I’m sure we’ll give her a rest now. I’ll have her checked out from top to bottom; have her scanned and all. But I don’t expect any problems. She’s a very sound filly and she’s always done well. She ate up last night and was fine at the barn this morning. I think it all looks good.”
Beholder won the Juvenile Fillies last year at Santa Anita and was 2yo filly champion. She won this year’s Distaff as a 3yo and now appears to have an inside edge on being declared 3yo filly champion. How, Mandella was asked, would he like the idea of winning a Championship race at Santa Anita again next year with her and having her named champion older mare?
“Well, I like that idea,” he said. “I like that idea a lot.”
·Ron Ellis (Centralintelligence, did not finish, Dirt Mile) – Alfredo Morfin, foreman for trainer Ron Ellis, reported that Centralinteligence, who was pulled up and vanned off after the Dirt Mile Friday, would be transported from his stall Saturday to undergo surgery on his injured right foreleg.
“He’s got a cast on, but he will be OK,” said Morfin of the 5yo gelding, scheduled to be operated on Sunday by veterinarian Wayne McIlwraith at a clinic in Chino.
McIlwraith reported that Centralinteligence suffered a fracture of the lateral condylar of the distal cannon bone in the fetlock joint. He was taken up by jockey Victor Espinoza inside rivals with about 6 1/2f left in the race.
