Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Its in the post deserves a look
Itsinthepost has never won a Grade 1 stakes. He did not have his last start in a major stakes at Belmont Park or a famous European track, such as Ascot or Chantilly.
When he starts in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar, Itsinthepost will be overlooked, despite a win in the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita on Oct. 1. The focus will be on runners from New York or Europe.
“He’s French,” trainer Jeff Mullins protested with a laugh Sunday morning. “He’s not local. He’s a transplant.”
Yes, the 5-year-old Itsinthepost was bred in France. Mullins is spot-on there. But Itsinthepost has developed from an allowance-race winner as a 2-year-old in France in 2014 to a multiple stakes winner in the United States this year, by far his best.
Owned by Jed and Roberta Cohen, Itsinthepost has won 3 of 8 starts and earned $533,000 this season. From that, $100,000 was dedicated to a supplemental fee that makes Itsinthepost eligible to the Breeders’ Cup program.
The investment was not taken lightly, Mullins said.
“If we thought we were running to get our money back, we wouldn’t be going.”
Itsinthepost won two Grade 2 stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Santa Anita and Keeneland in the spring. In his only Grade 1 appearance, Itsinthepost was fifth behind BC Turf hopeful Bigger Picture in the United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park in July. Itsinthepost faced pressure from the start and was beaten 2 3/4 lengths.
In the John Henry Turf Championship, Itsinthepost closed from fourth through traffic to win by a head under jockey Tyler Baze, who has the mount on Saturday. The John Henry Turf Championship was run at 1 1/4 miles on turf. The BC Turf is run at 1 1/2 miles.
“I think the mile and a half will help more than anything,” Mullins said.
The BC Turf is led by Beach Patrol, who won the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park on Oct. 1; Highland Reel, who won the 2016 BC Turf at Santa Anita and was third in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot on Oct. 21; and Ulysses, who was third in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Chantilly on Oct. 1.
Oscar Nominated, who was second in the Canadian International at Woodbine on Oct. 15, was not shipped from Kentucky to Del Mar for the BC Turf. Oscar Nominated was not selected to the field, and trainer Mike Maker said over the weekend that the Grade 3 Red Smith Handicap at Aqueduct on Nov. 11 or the Grade 3 River City Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 23 are under consideration.
– Steve Andersen
Unique Bella looms large
A full gate of 14 is pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint for Saturday, but just one name – Unique Bella – has dominated the conversation as the $1 million race draws near.
A winner in 5 of 6 career starts, Unique Bella has awed even the opposing trainers of the 13 pre-entered against her in the seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint.
“I’ve been watching her train, and she’s just extremely fast,” said Bob Baffert, who will run Constellation against her. “She’s got just raw, raw speed, raw talent. It looks like she’s ready to roll.”
Unique Bella, owned by the Don Alberto Stable, was knocked off the Kentucky Oaks trail with a shin injury in late March, after which trainer Jerry Hollendorfer decided to target the Filly and Mare Sprint, as opposed to the BC Distaff. A 3 1/2-length victory in the Oct. 8 L.A. Woman seems to have served its purpose as a comeback prep toward the goal.
Unique Bella was scheduled to arrive early Tuesday at Del Mar from her Santa Anita base. Aside from a light training regimen, she was to school Wednesday through Friday, said Hollendorfer.
“We’re taking nothing for granted, but yes, the filly has done very well since we put her back in training,” said Hollendorfer.
Hollendorfer trained Constellation for her six most recent starts before LNJ Foxwoods turned her over to Baffert this summer. The 4-year-old filly has four stakes wins, most notably the Grade 1 La Brea in December, from 12 career starts.
“She’s a very healthy filly,” said Baffert. “The fact she won the La Brea ought to make her one of the horses to beat. She’s been doing really well, but going against Unique Bella, she’s going to have to step it up a little bit.”
– Marty McGee
First starter for Thomas
When the trainer Jonathan Thomas sends Catholic Boy out in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday he’ll follow along the trail well worn by his old boss, trainer Todd Pletcher.
Pletcher is walking quite a way up that path. He’s had 128
Breeders’ Cup runners. Catholic Boy will be Thomas’s first.
Thomas worked seven years for Pletcher, leaving the operation a little less than five years ago. For the last three years, Thomas has been based at George Isaacs’s Bridlewood Farm in Florida, and it’s there that Catholic Boy has done his Breeders’ Cup preparation. Training off the farm, in Bridlewood’s case, seems more asset than liability.
“It’s a farm atmosphere but it’s kind of turned into a training center,” Thomas said. “We have a seven-eighths mile dirt course, a six-furlong turf course, and a five-eighths uphill gallop.”
The setup is working for Thomas, who easily is having his best year as a trainer with 17 winners from 56 runners. Catholic Boy, a More Than Ready colt owned by Robert LaPenta, not only is Thomas’s lone graded stakes winner, he became his only graded stakes runner in the Grade 3 With Anticipation at Saratoga. The With Anticipation was run Aug. 30 and Catholic Boy hasn’t started since, but the break came by design.
“John Panagot – Mr. LaPenta’s racing manager – and I just thought giving this horse some time to develop was the right thing to do,” Thomas said Monday morning. “We have him about two weeks off after he shipped back home. The horse has actually grown about an inch and a half and put on 100 pounds since Saratoga.”
It remains to be seen how Catholic Boy races, but on appearance and training, the plan has succeeded. Catholic Boy has caught the eye during morning exercise this week at Del Mar, and he is a robust, handsome colt that looks more mature than his age. His halfmile turf work around dogs on Sunday morning in 47.80 followed a series of Bridlewood breezes that have Thomas comfortable with his horse’s chances.
“He’s always been a forwardly training horse, and he’s always been very reliable from a breeze standpoint. He shows up and does what you need him to do. He had two very stamina-laden five-eighths quick works with a big gallop-out back home, and I loved his breeze yesterday,” Thomas said. “To me, if he’s good enough, he’s ready.”
– Marcus Hersh
Retro still on the bubble
As much as possible, the 2-year-old filly Retro is in normal training at Del Mar this week.
Monday, Retro galloped on the main track, and was schooled in the starting gate and the paddock. The routine is designed to have her ready for Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf – if she can gain a spot in the gate.
As of Monday morning, Retro was expected to be on the also eligible list for the Juvenile Fillies Turf. She was excluded from the list of 14 invited runners when pre-entries were announced last week and is likely to be the first alternate should a berth develop before scratch time at 8 a.m. on Friday.
Until then, owner Larry Roth, who races as LNJ Foxwoods, and trainer Richard Mandella, must wait.
Retro won her debut in a onemile maiden race on turf at Del Mar, the same distance as the Juvenile Fillies Turf. She was third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths, in the Surfer Girl Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 9. The first two finishers of the Surfer Girl Stakes – Fatale Bere and Moon Dash – were selected for the Juvenile Fillies Turf field.
Retro, by Giant’s Causeway, is still learning about racing, Mandella said. She closed from ninth in the final quarter-mile of the Surfer Girl Stakes.
“I think she’s good,” Mandella said. “Greenness caught up with her the other day. She didn’t have many options for quite a ways. She was a little confused when she had a chance to jump into it and it took a sixteenth of a mile.
“I wouldn’t run if I didn’t think she had a shot.”
– Steve Andersen
Mott eyes second Mile win
It took trainer Bill Mott 13 tries to win a Breeders’ Cup Mile. Saturday, he has a chance for two in a row.
A year after Tourist upset the BC Mile at Santa Anita, Ballagh Rocks will try to do the same thing at Del Mar. He won’t be one of the favorites, but then neither was Tourist, who got home at 12-1. Ballagh Rocks will probably be longer than that, but he’s run competitive races when stepped up to Grade 1 grass competition, and as a 4-year-old should still have a bit of upside to him.
“He’s run good every time,” Mott said. “He just shows up.”
Ballagh Rocks worked a comfortable half-mile by himself Monday, going around the dogs in 49.60 with a fairly energetic gallop-out.
“He looked fine. He doesn’t do much without company. We even put the blinkers on him this morning to try and keep him focused,” Mott said. “The rider said he liked this course. It might be a good turf course for him.”
Firm going, which Mott thinks his horse prefers, is one reason to consider the possibility of Ballagh Rocks improving. Three of his last four starts, including a good third in World Approval’s Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga, came on courses labeled good or yielding. His third last out in the Shadwell Turf Mile came on ground designated as firm, but the Keeneland course clearly had gone into full autumnal mode by October, and was loose and breaking away from horses.
Another thing that could help Ballagh Rocks, a Stormy Atlantic colt owned by Donegal Racing, would be the presence of the speedy Midnight Storm in the Mile. Between Midnight Storm and Heart to Heart, the Mile pace figures to be strong, which is exactly what Ballagh Rocks needs. That, and good fortune.
The whole thing in this race is the trip, anyway,” said Mott, who would know by now. “If you’re one of the lucky ones, you’ve got some kind of chance.”
– Marcus Hersh