Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
King of Speed headed to BC
ARCADIA, Calif. – King of Speed will start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, while Vasilika will remain in California and miss the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs next month, their trainers said on Sunday.
King of Speed, who won his second stakes in the Zuma Beach Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 8, will be nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program at a cost of $100,000, trainer Jeff Bonde said. The hefty fee is due in advance of the preentry deadline on Oct. 22. King of Speed was not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program as a yearling for $500.
“He’s paid his way,” Bonde said.
Owned by David and John Del Secco, King of Speed has won 2 of 6 starts and earned $145,980. The wins have come in stakes, beginning with the Del Mar Juvenile Turf on Sept. 2. Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens rides King of Speed, who is by Jimmy Creed.
Aside from the nomination, the pre-entry and entry fees for the BC Juvenile Turf at a mile are a combined $30,000.
Vasilika won her second consecutive stakes, and first Grade 1, in the $301,035 Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita on Sept. 29, her seventh consecutive win. On Sunday, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Vasilika will be pointed for the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 4, a prep for the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at a mile on turf at Del Mar on Dec. 2.
Hollendorfer said the international competition in the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf was a pivotal reason not to target the lucrative race.
“I think it’s the best call,” Hollendorfer said. “We beat good horses last time, but we’re running against better horses in that race.”
Vasilika has won 12 of 26 starts and earned $620,595 for the partnership of Hollendorfer, All Schlaich Stables, Gatto Racing, and George Todaro. A 4-year-old filly by Skipshot, Vasilika was claimed for $40,000 in February and subsequently has earned $471,528.
Baffert juveniles keep rolling
Cruel Intention, the sparkling winner of a maiden special weight race for California-bred 2-year-olds at Santa Anita last Saturday, was trainer Bob Baffert’s 15th juvenile maiden winner since mid-July.
Cruel Intention fills a void on the Baffert team as a runner eligible for statebred stakes. Baffert said on Sunday that Cruel Intention will be pointed for the $200,000 Golden State Juvenile at seven furlongs for statebreds at Santa Anita on Nov. 3.
By Smiling Tiger, Cruel Intention led throughout a six-furlong maiden race to win by 5 1/2 lengths under jockey Drayden Van Dyke, who did not urge the colt in the final sixteenth. Owned by Jungle Racing, Larry Roth’s LNJ Foxwoods, and Nexus Racing, Cruel Intention was purchased for $200,000 at the Barretts April sale of 2-yearolds in training.
Baffert’s other 2-year-old winners, in chronological order since the start of the Del Mar summer meeting in July, are Mother Mother, Chasing Yesterday, Roadster, Der Lu, The Aurelia Factor, Game Winner, Fighting Mad, Tale of the Union, Magic On Tap, Much Better, Rayana, Mucho Gusto, Improbable, and Metropol.
Of those 15, 12 were listed as sold at public auctions for a combined $5.12 million.
Chasing Yesterday, a halfsister to 2015 Horse of the Year and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, won Sunday’s $77,500 Anoakia Stakes at six furlongs. Chasing Yesterday is owned by breeder Jane Lyons.
Game Winner beat maidens at Del Mar on Aug. 18 and has since won two Grade 1 races – the Del Mar Futurity and American Pharoah Stakes in September. Game Winner is the leading contender for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2.
Improbable is under consideration for Sunday’s $70,000 Sunny Slope Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs. Improbable, a $200,000 purchase at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale, won his debut in a six-furlong maiden race here by a neck on Sept. 29.
The Sunny Slope Stakes is restricted to horses who have not won a graded stakes. Sparky Ville, second in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 11 and sixth in the Del Mar Futurity, is the only runner with graded stakes experience and is an intended runner, trainer Jeff Bonde said.
◗ Severe winds knocked out power to Santa Anita early Monday morning and left debris strewn all over the area, forcing training to be stopped prior to the scheduled first renovation break at 6:30 a.m.