Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Quiet morning at Santa Anita
ARCADIA, Calif. – Thursday was a relatively quiet morning on the Breeders’ Cup front at Santa Anita, with only two potential starters turning in official works. But that will change quickly with at least a dozen or so Breeders’ Cup workers on the schedule here Friday and plenty more to follow throughout the remainder of the weekend.
The weather in Southern California remains pictureperfect – sunny, with temperatures in the high 50s when the track opens for training at 5 a.m., but quickly rising into the low 80s by the time the last horse is off the track at 10 a.m.
Both Thursday works came in semi-darkness, at 6:30 a.m., immediately after the first renovation break. Croughavouke was the first to go, breezing an easy half-mile in 50.80 under jockey Flavien Prat before pulling up rather quickly on the gallop-out. She will need some help to get into the Juvenile Fillies Turf as she is second on the also-eligible list. La Force followed close behind, completing the final half-mile of a five-furlong breeze in 26.03, 53.11 for her role as a decided outsider in the Distaff.
McKinzie (Classic) and his stablemate Bast (Juvenile Fillies) were back on the track this morning following stiff seven-furlong works on Tuesday, both doing little more than jogging once around after the second renovation break. Among the other Classic contenders who are on the grounds and turned in routine gallops Thursday morning were Elate, Mongolian Groom, Seeking the Soul, War of Will, and Yoshida.
The most notable Breeders’ Cup work around the country on Thursday came at
Monmouth Park, where Imperial Hint, among the leading contenders in a competitive group for the Sprint, zipped four furlongs in 46 seconds while looking very impressive, according to longtime track clocker Gate Artis. Imperial Hint covered his opening three-eighths in 34.20 and galloped out five furlongs in 58.40, per Artis.
Trainer Luis Carvajal Jr. said a short while later that the work couldn’t have gone any more perfect.
“It was great. My rider said [Imperial Hint] did a perfect job,” said Carvajal. “I told my rider just sit on him against the bit and just hold him, hold him, then make a little noise when he gets to the last eighth and see if he gives him that push. He worked fast, but that’s the way he works. Last year at Churchill Downs he went 48 and change in his final work before the Sprint. But when he’s at his best, he can go 46, 47 in hand like he did today.”
Imperial Hint, who’ll ship to Santa Anita on Sunday, finished second in the 2017 Sprint at Del
Mar and a well-beaten third in the 2018 Sprint at Churchill Downs, both times behind Roy H.
Imperial Hint was one of two Sprint hopefuls to work Thursday along with Hog Creek Hustle, who breezed a half-mile in 48.40 before galloping out in 1:01.80 at Churchill Downs on the watch of track clocker John Nichols.
At Keeneland, Blue Prize turned in her final major prep for the Distaff, working five furlongs in 1:01.40 and galloping out three-quarters in 1:13.20.