Adhamo #1 with Flavien Prat riding won the $600,000 Grade I United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park July 23, 2022. (Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)
Turf Entries Update
Breeders’ Cup Around The Track
LONGINES BREEDERS’ CUP TURF
Adhamo (IRE) galloped a mile and a half on the dirt track for trainer Chad Brown and will have a similar exercise Thursday.
“He runs his best with a couple races and he likes firm ground, so that will help him. The mile and a half is maybe a little bit of a stretch, but he’s certainly performed well at a mile and three-eighths and a mile and a quarter might be his sweet spot. It’s a very, very tough race for this horse, but the ownership group wanted to take a chance,” Brown said this morning.
“That said, comparing him to the American horses in this race, with getting his ground and Flavien Prat — a great jockey — on him who knows him well, it’s reasonable to think he fits with those horses.
“The problem is the European horses are so much better, I think, on paper than the American horses and that makes the race tough for Adhamo.”
“The owners were handicapping amongst the Americans and that, along with my training reports being very compliment of this horse coming off a long break, are why we are taking a shot with him. He ran a big race off the 11-month layoff in the Arlington Million (G1) in August and ran about a ‘7’ Ragozin and was coming along nicely through the stretch. That’s a very long layoff for that type of race,” Brown continued.
“When we went up to Canada (for the G1 Canadian International), it rained and we got soft ground, so the owners are thinking that if he moves forward off the Arlington Million race and moves past that ‘7’ to run a ‘5’ or ‘6’—that should get a nice piece of this race. That was the thought process of entering him and I can’t disagree with that.”
MAKER’S MARK BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY & MARE TURF
With Erwin Castro aboard Mark Casse trainee Fev Rover (IRE) galloped a mile and will do the same tomorrow.
“She has just been doing great; could not be doing any better. I had her at Belmont for about 10 days when she shipped down from Woodbine before we came here. I know her pretty well. So far, so good. We’ll keep our fingers crossed,” said Casse Assistant Trainer Shane Tripp
This has been a good year for Tracy Farmer’s Fev Rover (IRE), a 5-year-old mare. She is one race away from putting the word great at the end of her 2023 resume.
To get there, Fev Rover will have to do some heavy lifting as she takes on a deep, solid field in the $2 million Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) on Saturday.
If she can conquer the 1 1/4-mile race, Fev Rover will finish the season with four wins in six starts. So far, she has victories in the E.P. Taylor (G1) at Woodbine, the Beverly D. (G1) at Colonial and the Nassau (G2), also at Woodbine.
“She has beaten most of the best horses in the U.S.,” Mark Casse, her Hall of Fame trainer, said. “Now, she has to deal with Europe. This will be a little different.”
Six of the past seven winners of the Filly & Mare Turf were based overseas.
Fev Rover, who has six wins, four seconds and three thirds in 19 career starts, began 2023 with a 4 1/4-length win in the Nassau. The Irish-bred ran so well in that July 1 race that Casse brought her right back, taking a big bite in the Diana (G1) at Saratoga on July 15.
She finished third in that race, a half-length behind the Chad Brown-trained duo of Whitebeam (GB) and In Italian (GB). In Italian, by the way, is one of the 11 rivals Fev Rover will be facing in the Filly & Mare Turf.
“I came away from the Diana thinking that, with a little better trip, she could have won it,” Casse said.
She followed that up with a gate-to-wire 3 1/2-length score in the Beverly D., a fourth in the Canadian (G2) at Woodbine and the 2 1/2-length win in the E.P. Taylor.
“We saw the real Fev Rover in the E.P. Taylor,” Casse said.
Fev Rover is 8-1 on the Filly & Mare Turf morning line and will have to deal with five European runners, led by the John Gosden-trained Inspiral (GB), the 5-2 morning line favorite and winner of two consecutive Group 1 European races, and Warm Heart (IRE), trained by Aidan O’Brien, who has won five of seven this year.
Inspiral’s past 10 starts have been at a mile and she has won six of them. The 4-year-old filly will be stretching out to 1 1/4 miles for the first time. Warm Heart, a 3-year-old filly, has won both her starts at the Filly & Mare distance but her past four races have been at 1 1/2 miles. She won three of them.
When asked if he thought Fev Rover could handle this type of field, he smiled and shrugged his shoulders as he stood outside Barn 59 under a bright California sun.
“Honestly? I don’t know,” he said. “She is as good as she is gonna be, but this is a tall task.”
Which is not to mean Casse is going in thinking he can’t win. On the contrary; he is sending Fev Rover to this race knowing she is at the best she can possibly be. Whether that is good enough is the question.
“For sure I am optimistic,” Casse said. “I have taken some good horses to the Breeders’ Cup. And this one is a happy girl.”
Trainer John Gosden had Inspiral (GB) out under Frankie Dettori canter an easy lap and then schooled in the paddock. He will have another easy leg-stretcher Thursday.
Arguably the most-accomplished horse racing on Breeders’ Cup Saturday will be Cheveley Park Stud’s five-time Group 1-winning dual European champion Inspiral (GB), the current market favorite for the $2 million Maker’s Mark Filly & Mare Turf (G1). Arriving Sunday from her Newmarket base, the John Gosden-trained daughter of the great Frankel (GB) got her second feel for the local surroundings Wednesday morning.
“She’s flown to France before, but this is the longest journey for her,” Gosden said. “She’s taking it all well, but she did get very bored in quarantine and was itching to get out. She’s a little bit like a caged lioness, but she’s fit and doing well.”
The 4-year-old homebred exits a 3¾-length drubbing of her own sex in the Sun Chariot Stakes (G1) at Newmarket over quick ground, setting her up nicely for an American foray, but the Breeders’ Cup was not always in the plans.
“We were originally going to run her in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot, and it would have been perfect the weekend before, when they had good ground, but the week of the race, we had a massive amount of rain in the days leading up to Champions Weekend and we were left with no alternative but not to enter her there and bring her here,” Gosden said.
Winner of consecutive editions of the “Win and You’re In” Prix Jacques le Marois (G1) over males in France, she earned her remaining top-level tallies in the Fillies Mile (G1) — sewing up her 2-year-old championship of 2021 — and Royal Ascot’s Coronation Stakes (G1), which kicked off her 3-year-old championship of 2022. What her quintet of Group 1 trophies share is the distance of a mile — the maximum trip she has attempted in her career.
“We think she’ll get the distance well,” Gosden said. “As I’ve said with Mostahdaf (IRE), it’s firm ground and the first part is downhill, with tight bends, so I don’t worry too much about her ability to handle a mile and a quarter.”
Gosden will seek his sixth Breeders’ Cup trophy, but first in the Filly & Mare Turf. Confidence in achieving such can only be heightened by the fact that the average-winning distance of Frankel progeny is 10 1/2 furlongs and Cheveley Park’s lone victory from four Breeders’ Cup runs was in this race.
MAKER’S MARK BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY & MARE TURF
Moira galloped 1-1/4m and schooled in the paddock for trainer Kevin Attard.
Madaket Stables, SF Racing and X-Men Racing’s Ontario-bred Moira is one of two North American-bred horses entered in Saturday’s $2 million Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1). She rallied from last-of-12 to finish fifth in this event last year at Keeneland.
Trainer Kevin Attard said Moira, who is named after the character Moira Rose played by Catherine O’Hara on the TV series Schitt’s Creek, has settled in well at Santa Anita where she has trained forwardly in the care of her regular exercise rider Korina McLean.
“She had a nice, easy gallop about a mile and a quarter this morning and then went to the paddock for a little bit of a walk and a look around,” Attard said. “She’s a little bit of a quirky horse, so just to see her ship as well as she has is a good sign.
“She’s with people she’s familiar with and that gives her a sense of home,” added Attard, whose son, Josh, is a key member of the Moira team. “The team spends a lot of time with these horses and gets to know them really well and know the ins and out of them. It always helps to have familiar faces.”
The 4-year-old Ghostzapper bay enjoyed a tremendous sophomore season, winning three stakes in five starts led by scores in the Woodbine Oaks and a memorable 7-length romp over the boys in the $1 million Queen’s Plate to secure honors as Canada’s Champion 3-Year-Old Filly and Horse of the Year.
She made her turf debut last October against older company in Woodbine’s 10-furlong E.P. Taylor (G1) in which she angled toward the rail at the three-sixteenths pole in search of racing room – forcing Lemista (IRE) to check – and then surged powerfully up the rail to finish second, a neck behind the victorious Rougir (FR). A stewards’ inquiry and objection saw Moira disqualified and placed eighth behind Lemista.
Moira has made four of five starts on the Woodbine turf this year, garnering a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure while making the grade in the 9-furlong Grade 2 Canadian on Sept. 9. She enters from a good effort in the E. P. Taylor, closing from seventh to finish third behind returning rivals Fev Rover (IRE) and With The Moonlight (IRE) in a race contested over good going.
Attard said the expected firm footing for Saturday’s 10-furlong test should benefit Moira, who exits post 4 under Flavien Prat.
“In her last race back home, we had quite a bit of rain and the turf had a bit of give, especially this time of year when it cools off and doesn’t dry out as quick,” Attard said. “So, coming out here on the firm going was a big enticement.”
Attard said if Moira can run back to her effort in the Canadian, she should give a strong account of herself in a field that features fillies foaled in Britain, Ireland, France, Argentina and Japan.
“This is best on best. You work all year round to get to this point and we feel very fortunate to have a filly we think is competitive with them,” Attard said. “Hopefully, she comes up with her ‘A’ game and we can bring one home for the Canadian team. There’s a lot on her back in that sense and maybe, if she can win this race, she can show that the North American fillies are just as good as those Euros.”
Attard said he is hopeful Prat, who hops aboard for the first time, can work out a nice one-run trip for Moira.
“Off-the-pace with an outside trip is what she wants. In this race, it seems like it’s shaping up with quite a bit of speed,” Attard said. “It’s hard sometimes to gauge the Euros, but a few of them look like they want to be forwardly placed, so hopefully that transpires, and we can get a good trip and come with a run.”
Moira, listed at 12-1 on the morning line, was purchased for $150,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She is out of the graded stakes-placed Unbridled’s Song mare Devine Aida.
BREEDERS’ CUP TURF SPRINT
Japenese contender Jasper Krone breezed a blowout two furlongs down the stretch and then schooled in the paddock. Race jockey Yuga Kawada was aboard for the move. The Hideyuki Mori trainee will have an easy day Thursday.
Japan will have its first runner in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) when Kentucky-bred Jasper Krone returns to his nation of birth and starts in the 5-furlong grass dash.
On Wednesday, the Machmer Hall and Godolphin-bred son of Frosted breezed a 2f blowout down the stretch (dirt track) in preparation for his first international race. A blisteringly quick six-time winner from 15 starts, he enters in career form, having won two Group 3s this summer before finishing an excellent fourth, beaten 2 lengths, in Japan’s top turf sprint, the Sprinters Stakes (G1) on Oct. 1.
“He was very good today,” trainer Hideyuki Mori said through a translator. “I was happy with him. I didn’t want too much, just a little speed today. The post position (11 of 12) is no problem for him. He has one way to go.”
Jockey Yuga Kawada, aboard for the move, added: “He felt good; very fast.”
PREVAGEN BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE TURF
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BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE FILLIES TURF
Peter Eurton trained Juvenile Turf contender Stay Hot galloped on training track, will gallop Thursday morning but have Friday off the track.
“He’s fresh. I see him in the top five or six early. I have a lot of confidence in this horse’s ability,” said Eurton
Eurton’s other entry in the Fillies Turf, Flattery Galloped on training track and will do the same as her stablemate.
“I’m going to leave that (the strategy) up to the rider. It just depends on the pace and if it is a hot pace, she’ll probably be a little farther back. The key is to find a spot when it’s time to run,” Eurton said.
BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE TURF SPRINT
Shards Galloped 1 1/2m over main track. Trainer Kelsey Danner said he will do the same on Thursday.
“He’s doing really well. He shipped in good. He’s been training good, seems to like it here. No problems,” Danner said.
“He’s gotten a lot sharper. He did everything very easy as a baby. At the sale (OBS March), he had the fastest breeze of the sale, so things just came really easy to him. Mentally, I think he’s just now catching up. In his first few races I thought he was further along than he actually was. But, now he’s mentally on it. He’s stronger to gallop. He’s more focused.
“He came out of that race at Keeneland (a third in the Indian Summer on Oct. 8) really well. There’s a little bit of concern with the distance (5 furlongs) being shorter than his other races, but I do think he’s sharper than he was a couple months ago,” Danner added.
Danner, who is making her Breeders’ Cup debut as a trainer, is a former assistant to trainer Wayne Catalano and was the regular exercise rider for 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G2) winner Stephanie’s Kitten.
John Sadler trainee Slider galloped today as he will Thursday and will take off Friday morning.
“I think he is one of the ones to beat. There are a lot of Europeans (six) in there and you don’t know how to compare a Group 3 at Chantilly with our races. He’s fast,” said Sadler
Click here for all of the Breeders’ Cup 40 entries and races.
