BREEDERS’ CUP NOTEBOOK
With the Breeders’ Cup rapidly approaching, only four horses worked out yesterday morning.
Irish Prize, one of the choices for the Mile, breezed four furlongs on the grass in :49 with jockey Gary Stevens up, going in fractions of :25.1 and :23.4.
“He went very nice,” Stevens said. “We just wanted to stretch his legs a bit.”
Irish Prize drew the far outside post 13, not a prime spot. But last year Stevens won the Mile on War Chant, like Irish Prize a stretch-runner trained by Neil Drysdale, from post 11.
Another Drysdale runner, Kalypso Katie, a longshot in the Filly & Mare Turf, worked a half-mile on turf in :50.1, going the first quarter in a quick :23.4 and coming home in a pokey :26.2. Stevens will ride.
Swept Overboard blew out three furlongs in a sharp :34.3, galloping out a half in :46.3, under jockey David Flores for the Sprint. Mile candidate Navesink went four furlongs in :47 at the Colts Neck Training Center in New Jersey.
On paper, jockey Jerry Bailey and trainer Bobby Frankel hold the hot hands going into Saturday. But both could come away empty-handed.
“This is probably one of my strongest years,” said Bailey, who’s tied with Pat Day for the lead with 11 Cup victories. He rides top contenders Flute, Affirmed Success, Squirtle Squirt, Lailani, Siphonic, Hap and Aptitude.
“But so many unexpected things can happen;” Bailey said. “Just because you have the favorite, that’s no guarantee of success.”
Frankel runs six solid horses Saturday, and Bob Baffert, his rival for top trainer of the year, notes, “I think he’s got a good chance in all of them. But sometimes the horse you least expect to win is the one who does it for you.”
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, the king of the Breeders’ Cup with 16 victories, thinks the World Trade Center terror attacks are having a somber effect on this year’s event.
“I’m just being frank and honest, but I don’t feel the electricity,” he said. “I think it’s going to keep down the size of the crowd.