Belmont Breeders' Cup Preview Weekend
Mineshaft winning the Pimlico Special in May. |
Updated: 9/24/03
Belmont will hold the first half of their major Breeders' Cup Preps this weekend with four Grade 1 races on the card Saturday. The 85th running of the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup for three-year-olds and up at a mile and a quarter will be held as the 10th race on an 11 race card with a post time of 5:45pm Eastern. The other three races are the $750,000 Turf Classic Invitational at 1 1/2 miles for open company, the $750,000 Flower Bowl Invitational at 1 1/4 miles on the turf for the fillies, and the $500,000 Vosburgh at 6 1/2 furlongs on the dirt. Preps for the other four Breeders' Cup divisions will be held in a week on October 4th.
Multiple Grade 1 winning Mineshaft, who is expected to go off a strong
favorite in Saturday's 85th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club
Gold Cup, breezed five furlongs over Belmont's main track Monday morning in
1:01 2/5. It was the four-year-old's second workout since beating four
overmatched foes in the Grade 1 Woodward on September 6th. "He's doing
great," trainer Neil Howard said. "He's ready." Mineshaft, undefeated in a
pair of starts at the Gold Cup distance of a mile and a quarter, may face
only three other horses - Moon Ballad, Empire Maker and Evening Attire - in
this year's Gold Cup. All three of his rivals, however, are Grade or Group 1
winners. Howard has trained his share of Grade 1 winners including 1990
Preakness winner Summer Squall, Runup the Colors, Secret Status and Tomisue's
Delight, but says Mineshaft is in a league of his own. "I would never say
anything to slight Summer Squall, but Mineshaft is a special horse," he said.
Empire Maker is now out of the Jockey Club Gold Cup. |
Juddmonte Farms' Empire Maker, winner of the Belmont Stakes, galloped over
the training track Tuesday morning but has now been declared from Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup after suffering an injury to his left-front hoof.
"His foot busted open," Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel said. "He'll be
alright. It's the weakest part of the foot and if they get a bruise, that's
where it comes out. I don't think it will be major." The foot injury is the
latest setback to affect the Unbridled colt. He was battling a cough on and
off for about a month, which kept him from running in the August 23rd Travers
at Saratoga. If he runs in the Breeders' Cup Classic as part of the
Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championship at Santa Anita on October 25th,
it would be his first race in 84 days. "One thing about him is that he can
miss time and get ready," Frankel said. "He's practiced at it a lot. We
still have a month or so. If everything's alright, I might just send him to
California and let him train with Medaglia d'Oro." Frankel took the setback
in stride. "I expected something to happen," he said. "Everybody looks far
ahead and you can't look far ahead. Everything is a day-by-day thing with
these horses. There will be less pressure on me Saturday. Let me win the
other two and I'll be happy."
Moon Ballad winner of the Dubai World Cup will return to the dirt for the first time since that victory. |
Godolphin Racing's Moon Ballad, winner of the Dubai World Cup in March who is bound for the Jockey Club Gold Cup, galloped over the main track Wednesday. "He looks well," said Tom Albertrani, who is overseeing Moon
Ballad for trainer Saeed bin Suroor. "Depending on what the weather is, we
might give him a light work on Thursday just to stretch his legs. He worked
in Newmarket before he got on the plane. He doesn't need much."
Moon Ballad, winless in three starts since his five-length victory over
Harlan's Holiday in the Dubai World Cup, should be the one to catch in the
opening stages of the Gold Cup. He's going to have to run a monstrous race
to hold off Mineshaft, Empire Maker and Evening Attire, but facing a small
field might make his job as the pacesetter a bit easier. "Not having a lot of
speed in there could benefit him," Albertrani said. "He'll be tough if he
can repeat his World Cup effort." With the defection of Empire Maker, Hall of Fame jockey Jerry
Bailey has picked up the mount on Moon Ballad. The weight-for-age
Jockey Club Gold Cup is New York's last major prep for the Breeders' Cup
Classic, the feature of the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships at
Santa Anita on October 25th.
Sulamani winner of the Arlington Million after the disqualification of Storming Home. |
Godolphin Racing's Sulamani, the likely favorite in Saturday's Grade 1,
$750,000 Turf Classic Invitational at a mile and a half, breezed six furlongs
over Belmont's "good" inner turf course Wednesday morning in 1:16. The "dogs,"
cones that protect the inner portion of the course, were up. "He's doing
extremely well," said Tom Albertrani, assistant trainer to Saeed bin Suroor.
"He wasn't asked for much." Winner of the Arlington Million via
disqualification in his last start, Sulamani is 5 for 8 at the Turf Classic's
12-furlong distance. Overall, this four-year-old son of Hernando has earned
more than $3 million. "Distance is going to make the difference," Albertrani
said. "He'll run well at a mile and a quarter, but a mile and a half suits
him better." The Turf Classic lost one major player on Wednesday when Hall of
Fame trainer Neil Drysdale withdrew Storming Home from consideration. Yet,
Sulamani will face a good field that includes Group/Grade 1 winners Sabiango
and Lunar Sovereign. "You gotta take them all serious. Everybody is going
over there to win it," Albertrani said. "We know what our horse is capable
of. Hopefully, he has a good trip." Jerry Bailey, who has never won the Turf Classic, has the mount on Sulamani.
The Turf Classic-bound Lunar Sovereign, a visually impressive winner of
Belmont's Grade 1 Man 'o War a few weeks ago, breezed a half mile over the
main track in :49 3/5 Monday morning. Regular rider Richard Migliore was up for
the work. Lunar Sovereign, who possesses an awesome turn of foot, beat a
decent field in the Man o'War that included Grade 1 winners Denon and Balto
Star. With the presence of Sulamani, Storming Home and Sabiango, the Turf
Classic comes up a much stronger race. "The thought is he's doing great and
he's four-for-four at Belmont," trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. "This is as
tough as it gets. If he runs well here, that gives us a reason to look at
the (October 25th) Breeders' Cup Turf."
Sabiango, a Group 1 winner in Germany and perhaps the biggest threat to take
down Sulamani in the Turf Classic, breezed a half-mile over the "yielding"
inner turf in :50 Wednesday morning. "I'm happy, but he didn't do anything
special," said Sabiango's trainer, Andreas Wohler. Wohler doesn't start many
horses in the U.S., but handicappers should take him seriously when he ships
across the Atlantic. Two years ago, he saddled Sabiango's half brother,
Silvano, to a victory in the Arlington Million. Silvano also finished second
to With Anticipation in Belmont's Grade 1 Man O'War. "It's hard to compare
(Silvano and Sabiango)," Wohler said. "Sabiango is a stayer; he wants a mile
and a half. Silvano didn't want to go beyond a mile and a quarter. That's
how With Anticipation got us in the Man 'o War." Jockey David Flores is
scheduled to ride Sabiango for the first time in the Turf Classic.
Head Haze winner of the Beverly D. at Arlington. |
Heat Haze, also owned by Juddmonte and trained by Bobby Frankel, is nearly
perfect since coming to this country. She has won four of five U.S. starts,
with her only blemish a neck defeat to Voodoo Dancer in the Diana at
Saratoga. The four-year-old filly will start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Flower
Bowl Invitational Saturday. The Flower Bowl will be race 8 (4:41 p.m.
Eastern). "I'd like a good firm turf," Frankel said as heavy morning rains
pounded his barn. "Something she could grab a hold of, which I think we'll
get."
Walzerkoenigin, a stakes winner in France, Germany and Italy is one of six
females expected to run in Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Flower Bowl
Invitational. She got her first
feel for the Belmont turf Wednesday morning when breezing five furlongs over the
inner course in 1:05 under jockey Edgar Prado who will ride her Saturday. "We're very happy," said Paul Harley, the racing manager to Gestut Schlenderhan. "She did everything that was required with her
She'll probably have some light exercise tomorrow, but she might not leave the barn."
Walzerkoenigin, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Kingmambo, enters the Flower Bowl
off a fourth-place finish to Heat Haze in the Beverly D. on August 16th.
"Hopefully, the pace will be a bit quicker this time," Harley said. "They
went forty-nine and three and that compromised this filly's chances. It was
her first start in the U.S. and we're hoping she can improve a little with
the experience under her belt." Harley said that even if Walzerkoenigin were
to win the Flower Bowl, the four-year-old would not run in the Breeders' Cup
Filly and Mare Turf. "We're going to (Woodbine's) E.P. Taylor," Harley said.
"We're trying to avoid facing all the top fillies at once." Others pointing
for the Flower Bowl are Dimitrova, Dress to Thrill, Heat Haze, Riskaverse and
Snow Dance.
Ghostzapper in the King's Bishop post parade at Saratoga. |
Bobby Frankel also has another Grade 1 runner at Belmont Saturday in Stronach
Stable's Ghostzapper. A fast-closing third in the King's Bishop at Saratoga,
Ghostzapper will be making his first start against older stakes horses when
he goes in the six-furlong Vosburgh. "It looked like he was more than 11 lengths out of it, didn't it?" Frankel asked rhetorically. "Then he made up 5 1/2 lengths in the stretch, but they
crawled the last part. They came home in :13 2/5." The Vosburgh could be
Ghostzapper's Breeders' Cup as Frankel is likely to have other runners for
the Sprint, most notably Aldebaran, and is not sure how Ghostzapper would handle Santa Anita. "I don't
think I'd run Ghostzapper, not on that track," Frankel said. Another
three-year-old of Frankel's, Edmund Gann's Midas Eyes, may be considered for
the Breeders' Cup. He came down with a foot problem that has kept him out of
action since finishing second to Posse by a nose in the Riva Ridge on Belmont
Stakes Day. His other two races this year were stakes wins in the Swale and
Derby Trial. "He breezed really well yesterday (a half-mile in :47)," Frankel said. "He
just has to keep training like he is. We have enough time."
From NYRA press releases
Photos ©2003, Cindy Pierson Dulay, licensed to About.
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