Horse Racing Capsules: Zenyatta waiting for Day 2 of Breeders' Cup
ARCADIA, Calif. — The Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic is missing its leading lady, with defending champion Zenyatta pitting her 13-0 record against the boys on the second day of the season-ending world championships.
Her defection leaves Music Note as the early 9-5 favorite in the eight-horse field for the 1 1-8-mile Ladies’ Classic on Friday at Santa Anita.
The $2 million race is the highlight of six Breeders’ Cup races on Day 1, five of them featuring females, with the $500,000 Marathon for males.
Zenyatta’s presence in Saturday’s $5 million Classic is daunting to some of her rivals.
"I would have entered her with the fillies so I didn’t have to run at her," said Chip Woolley Jr., who trains Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.
"You know she’s going to be running late and she has a lot of style, much the same as my horse. She’s twice his size, so if she decides to knock him out of the way, she’s got a good chance."
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert saddles long shot Richard’s Kid in the Classic.
"I don’t like to see her in there — I’m in there with her," he said. "But she’s going to bring so much. Everybody is going to be watching with her in there. We need a big boost right now and she’s going to be our boost."
Zenyatta is going against male competition for the first time in her career. She will break from the No. 4 post in the 1 1/4-mile race.
"Optimism is high," said Jerry Moss, who co-owns the 5-year-old mare with his wife. "I think everybody is in for a treat."
Zenyatta is grabbing the attention in the absence of Rachel Alexandra, who was 8-for-8 this year, including three wins over male horses.
Owner Jess Jackson shut her down for the season because he dislikes Santa Anita’s synthetic track on which his two-time Horse of the Year Curlin faded to fourth in last year’s Classic.
No female horse has won the Classic in its 25-year history.
Zenyatta will be the fourth female to try. Jolypha had the best result, finishing third in 1992. Azeri was fourth in 2004 and Triptych was sixth in 1986.
Zenyatta would have been the closest thing to a sure bet in the Ladies’ Classic. Without her, Music Note will try to improve on last year’s third-place finish.
Careless Jewel is the early second choice at 2-1. She comes in on a five-race winning streak, with only one loss in her career for Josie Carroll, who would be the first female trainer to win the race.
The 3-year-old gray filly will break from the No. 1 post and likely use her tactical speed to go to the lead.
"She’s really not a nervous filly (like) people seem to think," Carroll said. "Any race that we’ve taken her to she’s actually been good until the rider gets on her back. Once somebody gets on, she wants her things her way and she starts to perform."
Even without Zenyatta, trainer John Shirreffs still has a horse in the Ladies’ Classic with Life is Sweet, who has fruitlessly chased Zenyatta in three of her last four races.
"It breaks my heart that Zenyatta is not in the race," owner Marty Wygod said, jokingly.
Also in the Ladies’ Classic, Britain-bred Proviso will try to give Bobby Frankel his seventh career Breeders’ Cup victory. The Hall of Fame trainer has been running his stable by phone while being sidelined by an undisclosed illness for much of the year.
Frankel also has Britain-bred Visit in Friday’s Filly & Mare Turf and Ventura in the Filly & Mare Sprint, which he won last year.
The $500,000 Marathon begins Friday’s races, with gelding Cloudy’s Knight making his Breeders’ Cup debut at age 9.
European horses won five of last year’s 14 Breeders’ Cup races, and could make a strong showing again. Ireland-bred Lillie Langtry, trained by Aidan O’Brien, is the 3-1 early favorite in the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Notebook: Globe-trotting Gary Player stops at Breeders’ Cup
ARCADIA, Calif. — Globe-trotting golf legend Gary Player has the horse racing bug.
"It’s a disease with me," he said Thursday at Santa Anita, where he visited a number of horses running this weekend in the Breeders’ Cup.
It is a malady to which he has happily succumbed.
Player built a 20,000-acre breeding farm in his native South Africa, thoroughly immersing himself in the study of pedigrees and the production of race horses.
"The conclusion you come to after all the studying is that you know a heck of a lot about nothing," he said. "Horses are a lot like golf. They will both humble you. You have to have quality and you have to work hard."
Player, who is in the midst of a trip that will take him to 12 countries in 31 days, was presented the first Breeders’ Cup Sports and Racing Excellence Award, honoring "an individual who has established a career of excellence in a chosen profession and also maintains a passionate interest as an owner, breeder or participant in the thoroughbred racing industry."
Player touched on the most sensitive subject of this Breeders’ Cup: the absence of superstar 3-year-olds Rachel Alexandra and Sea The Stars.
Owner Jess Jackson would not let Rachel Alexandra, the filly who beat the boys in the Preakness, Haskell and Woodward, compete on Santa Anita’s synthetic surface. Sea The Stars, the brilliant turf runner in Europe, was recently retired to stud.
Player made an impassioned plea to owners to embrace, rather than avoid, the championship showdowns.
"I’m very disappointed to see Rachel Alexandra not run," he said. "In my humble opinion, he should have raced her. We need to see Sea The Stars here. It wouldn’t have made any difference to his breeding program if he got beat here. We take horses out of training too quickly. He should be here."
RESTING THE BIRD
Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird is headed for a well-earned vacation following the $5 million BC Classic on Saturday.
It’s been a long, hard journey that started in New Mexico in the winter, shifted to Churchill Downs for the 50-1 shocker in the Derby and will conclude with the richest race in North America.
Trainer Chip Woolley Jr. is hoping for one more peak effort, especially after supplementing Mine That Bird to the Breeders’ Cup for $150,000.
"That wasn’t a choice made lightly," he said.
Mine That Bird, 12-1 on the morning line, will get a 45- to 60-day rest after the race.
"He’s probably the most traveled horse in the country and he definitely needs a break," Woolley said. "We’ll possibly look at something at Oaklawn Park early in the year and set up a schedule aiming for the good races at a mile-and-a-quarter."
This will be Mine That Bird’s second straight race at Santa Anita, following a sixth-place effort in the Goodwood Stakes last month.
Like his horse, Woolley is ready for the wide-open spaces of New Mexico.
"I love Santa Anita," he said. "I’m not so big on L.A. Santa Anita is a beautiful place to come train every morning. I’m more country. This is a little bit overcrowded for me once you leave the stable gate."
EUROPE’S OTHER CLASSIC HOPE
Rip Van Winkle, the 7-2 second choice, is widely regarded as Europe’s best chance for a repeat win in the BC Classic.
Twice Over, 20-1 on the morning line, merits consideration for an upset. Trained by Henry Cecil, nine times the champion conditioner in England, Twice Over has won three straight, all on the turf.
His latest effort was a 14-1 upset in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Newmarket. This will be the first time the 4-year-old colt does not run on grass.
"He went through a stage where he lost his confidence," Cecil said. "I think he’s got that back. He won the Champion Stakes on ground he really didn’t like. He came out of it very well. I think he’s got more chance than the betting line tells us."
Twice Over got an endorsement from John Gosden, another Britain-based trainer, who captured last year’s Classic with Raven’s Pass at 13-1.
"Rip Van Winkle is the class of the race," Gosden said. "If he’s on his best form, he will take some beating. I very much like Henry’s horse. He won the Champion Stakes in a great performance. I think at 20-1, he is fantastic value. I really do."
-- Mike Farrell
Ever a Friend wins Santa Anita feature
ARCADIA, Calif. — Ever a Friend returned from a 17-month layoff after ankle surgery to win Thursday’s $43,800 Caterman Purse by 1 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meeting.
Ridden by Tyler Baze, Ever a Friend ran 6½ furlongs on the turf in 1:11.95 and paid $4, $3.20 and $2.20 as the even-money wagering favorite.
Banner Lodge returned $9.80 and $5.20, and Cherokee Heaven was another length back in third and paid $3.40 to show.
The victory, worth $25,800, increased Ever a Friend’s career earnings to $466,568, with six wins in 20 starts.
Spy in the Sky wins Aqueduct feature
NEW YORK — Spy in the Sky, a major steeplechase stakes winner this year, made a successful transition back to flat racing Thursday, beating Blazing Dynamo by 1¼ lengths in the $46,000 allowance feature on the turf at Aqueduct.
The winner of the Grade 1 New York Turf Writers’ Handicap over hurdles at Saratoga, Spy in the Sky kicked clear in the final stages with Edgar Prado aboard for trainer James Day. The 5-year-old gelding ran the 1 3/8 miles in 2:19.56 over the firm course.
Spy in the Sky paid $22.40, $12.20 and $5.40. Blazing Dynamo returned $16.40 and $7.90. Hanginbyathread, the 5-2 favorite, paid $3.10 to show.
Bull Riding
Lostroh wins 4th round at PBR World Finals
LAS VEGAS — World standings leader Kody Lostroh won the fourth round of the Professional Bull Riders World Finals on Thursday night, scoring 90.25 points on Mission Accomplished to become one of only three cowboys to cover all four bulls.
"That bull is always good," said Lostroh, who earned $25,000. "Guys get a lot of points when they ride him. He turned back right there into my hand. I got to spur him a little bit, got some extra points and it worked out just like it’s supposed to."
JB Mauney, 480.5 points behind Lostroh in second place in the world standings, was second in the fourth round with an 89 on Fire Plug.
"I expect JB to stay on every time he nods his head," Lostroh said. "So, I’m not even watching him, and to be honest with you, I don’t care what he does. I’m here to do my job. He’s here to do his job, and you guys are here to make a big deal about it."
Defending world standings champion Guilherme Marchi, 1,473.25 points behind Lostroh in third place, has had four unsuccessful rides in the finals. He was bucked off Stinger in 3.1 seconds Thursday.
Mauney leads the event standings with 358 points. Lostroh and Valdiron de Oliveira — third Thursday after an 88.25 on Copp Hou — are tied for second at 353.5.
Aaron Roy, Dustin Elliott and Ryan McConnel moved up in the event standings.
Roy was fourth in the round with an 87.5 on Migraine, Elliott finished seventh with an 86 on Derringer, and McConnel was eighth at 85.75 on Bad Action.
McConnel was fifth with 265 points, Roy sixth with 262.25, and Elliott seventh with 261. They have each covered three bulls.
