Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Dennis’ Moment steals show with swift half-mile move
ARCADIA, Calif. – Friday morning’s Breeders’ Cup work tab at Santa Anita was pretty much dominated by locally based horses, although it was a Churchill Downs shipper, Dennis’ Moment, who wound up stealing the show as he continues to impress in preparation for next Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Dennis’ Moment was among the last of a group of more than a dozen potential Breeders’ Cup starters to work under clear skies with the temperature again soaring from the high 50s when the track opened at 5 a.m. into the low 80s by midmorning.
With his regular exercise rider Tammy Fox aboard, Dennis’ Moment jogged nearly a mile the wrong way before turning around and heading off to the pole. He wasted little time showing off his abundant speed after leaving the half-mile marker, completing his opening quarter in 23.11 seconds before getting to the wire on his own in 46.89, with the final clocking so much quicker than it appeared to the naked eye.
Dennis’ Moment continued out five furlongs in 1:00.59 before easing up midway on the turn. With the Juvenile now just a week away, he was not allowed to gallop out quite as far as he did in his previous work, which came at Churchill Downs six days earlier. This colt has a smooth stride and effortless way of getting over the track while appearing to be handling the local surface without issue.
War of Will was the lone Classic horse to work this
Friday, Oct. 25
Santa Anita
Weather: Clear
Track: Fast Temp. 60°
morning, going in blinkers, equipment he’ll wear for the first time in the afternoon in Saturday’s main event. War of Will breezed four furlongs in 47.89, completing his final quarter going easily in 23.69 before galloping out fiveeighths in 1:01.08. The work was not as eye-catching as I’ve seen from him, and he did seem to have his head cocked out a bit more than usual around the turn and again in early stretch, but it was a decent enough final prep for his first start against older horses here next Saturday.
In light of some of the workout times posted both here and around the country this past week by horses prepping for the extremely competitive Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Catalina Cruiser’s half-mile in 48.01 with a gallop-out of 1:01.87 was relatively disappointing. He seemed to be laboring some to the wire after posting a quick 23.12 opening split while being nudged along a tad to finish.
Catalina Cruiser was the second of three John Sadlertrained Breeders’ Cup contenders to work on Friday, along with Encoder for the Juvenile Turf Sprint and Double Touch, who is an also-eligible for the Turf Sprint. Encoder, working in semi-darkness at 6:30 a.m., went five furlongs in company on even terms with stablemate Call Dude, with both under late pressure to complete the distance in 1:01.79 off a 36.91 threeeighths split. Double Touch was sent to the training track, where he covered the final five furlongs of a six-furlong drill in 24.43, 36.55, 1:04.80, shorten
ing stride under late pressure while losing ground steadily at the end to workmate Declaration of peace.
Trainer Doug O’Neill also had a busy morning on the Breeders’ Cup front, sending out Comical and Lazy Daisy for the Juvenile Fillies at 7:45 a.m., and both Legends of War (Turf Sprint) and War Beast (Juvenile Turf) nearly 90 minutes later, with all four works at a half-mile.
Comical showed excellent energy on the gallop-out, easing up after six furlongs in 1:14.79 following her 48.22 half-mile. Lazy Daisy was the quickest of the O’Neill quartet, going in 47.73, but was shortening stride late after shading 23 seconds for her opening quarter-mile split. Legends of War and War Beast went back to back, in 48.34 and 49.70, respectively. Rafael Bejarano was aboard Legends of War.
War of Will’s stablemate Two
Sixty (Juvenile Fillies) was among the final group of workers this morning and looked good, getting four furlongs in 24.17, 48.49 without need of urging before easing up fiveeighths in 1:02.20.
Storm the Court (Juvenile) was the first worker after the second break, traveling six furlongs from the fiveeighths pole in 37.05, 1:01.73, 1:14.44, breaking off nearly 1 1/2 lengths behind stablemate Mo Mississippi and failing to catch his target while put to urging during the latter stages.
Donna Veloce (Juvenile Fillies), who won her only start by 9 1/4 lengths, may be light on experience, but she sure showed off her ample speed, zipping five furlongs in 24.20, 35.58, 1:00.23 before easing up six furlongs in 1:14.34 after the second renovation break. Ninety minutes earlier, K P Dreamin went an easier half-mile in 24.63, 50.25, out 1:03.74, also for the Juvenile Fillies.