Dream Tree out of Filly-Mare Sprint

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Bob Baffert was planning on sending nine horses to the Breeders’ Cup, and he worked five of them Friday, but the unbeaten Dream Tree came out of her work with an entrapped epiglottis that will need surgery and she is out of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, he said.

Dream Tree worked fast, a half-mile in 46.80 seconds under Drayden Van Dyke, but she struggled to best her company and was “making noise” after the work, Baffert said. An endoscopic examination minutes later at the barn revealed the issue.

Dream Tree, 3, was scheduled to be sold at auction immediately after the Breeders’ Cup, but now will be withdrawn, Baffert said. She will remain in training next year.

Baffert also has Marley’s Freedom in the Filly and Mare Sprint. Van Dyke was scheduled to ride her, with Mike Smith on Dream Tree. But since Smith has first call on both, now that Dream Tree is out Smith will ride Marley’s Freedom, Baffert said.

He also made a decision regarding riders for his top two Classic prospects. Smith will stay on McKinzie, while John Velazquez will inherit the mount on West Coast. Smith has been riding both horses. McKinzie stays in training next year at age 4, while West Coast, who will be 5 next year, is headed to stud duty.

Baffert’s two runners for the Distaff, Abel Tasman and Vale Dori, went in company and went so easily that Santa Anita’s clockers listed their work as breezing, something rarely given on this circuit. Both were timed in 47.20 seconds.

Abel Tasman worked inside of and in front of Vale Dori. She was sluggish leaving the gate in her last race, a belly flop in the Zenyatta, and she also lacked early speed in the La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs earlier this year, so Baffert wants her to be more forwardly placed early in the Distaff.

“She has to be aggressive leaving there,” said Baffert, who said both his Distaff candidates “went nice” in their workouts.

Game Winner varies works

Game Winner has yet to lose, and trainer Bob Baffert hopes to keep him that way through the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs. Baffert has put Game Winner through a series of varied workouts, which on Friday at Santa Anita included working him inside the 3-year-old Ax Man

in his final preparation for the Juvenile.

“He’s got to be ready for anything,” Baffert said. “Inside, outside, on the lead, coming from behind. I want him to be able to handle everything.”

So far, Game Winner has done just that, winning all three of his starts, including two Grade 1 races – the American Pharoah at Santa Anita and the Del Mar Futurity.

In his Friday work, Game Winner, under Joe Talamo, seemed to stave off Ax Man, under Drayden Van Dyke, while being timed officially in 47 seconds for four furlongs, though they appeared to break off at the five-furlong pole.

“He’s so professional,” Baffert said of Game Winner. “He’s a serious horse.”

“But so is Complexity,” he said, referring to the Chad Brown-trained winner of the Champagne Stakes. “He’s a serious horse, too.”

Mopotism drills for Distaff

Mopotism, who will join Abel Tasman and Vale Dori as West Coast representatives in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, worked seven furlongs in 1:26.20 on Friday morning at Santa Anita as trainer Doug O’Neill put several of his Breeders’ Cup runners through their final serious drills.

O’Neill worked Splashy Kisses for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She went six furlongs in 1:15.20 while besting workmate Whooping Jay. He also worked B Squared, who was pre-entered in the Sprint and Turf Sprint and will get into the Sprint, but is likely to be excluded from the oversubscribed Turf Sprint. He went a half-mile from the gate in 47.60 seconds.

O’Neill’s morning was a difficult one, though, for only moments after Mopotism worked, the 2-year-old colt Tariq collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac event following a workout. He had worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 under Rafael Bejarano and was about to exit the track at the outside fence near the quarter pole when he collapsed. Bejarano appeared to escape injury.

Tariq, who had raced twice against maidens, was a son of Into Mischief who was purchased at auction for $450,000 earlier this year by Dennis O’Neill, Doug’s brother, on behalf of Zedan Racing Stables.

◗ Giant Expectations, prepping for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds for trainer Peter Eurton.