Oaklawn-raced horses compete in Breeders’ Cup
Accelerate, Blue Prize, Wonder Gadot and Whitmore are among prominent horses raced at Oaklawn Park competing in this weekend’s Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
Trainer John Sadler’s morning-line favorite Accelerate galloped 1 1/2 miles Tuesday morning and stood in the gate as the 5-yearold colt moved toward Saturday’s $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Javier Meza, Accelerate’s regular exercise rider was in the saddle. Sadler reiterated his position on Accelerate’s far outside post in the 14-horse field.
“It’s a perfect spot for him,” Sadler said. “He shouldn’t be bothered out there and he’ll be able to move into whatever slot best works for him going into the first turn.”
Blue Prize comes into the Distaff fresh off her Spinster Stakes victory at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., on Oct. 7. It was her second “Win and You’re In” score as she also captured the Fleur de Lis Handicap at Breeders’ Cup host track Churchill Downs on June 16.
The Spinster was the first Grade 1 win in the United States for both Blue Prize and for her Argentina-born trainer, Ignacio Correas IV. Blue Prize won a Group One in her home country in October of 2016 before shipping to the states.
The 5-year-old Pure Prize mare drew post
10 of 11 in the Distaff, and Correas said the post was fine both with him and jockey Joe Bravo, who rode her to victory in the Spinster and will be aboard her again Saturday.
“It will give us the opportunity to see where the other ones go and be able to pick our spot,” Correas said. “I was texting with Joe, and he was very happy. If he’s happy, I’m happy.”
As to strategy in the Distaff, “We’ll let her do her thing,” he said. “She’s probably going to sit, two, three, four lengths off the pace and we’ll see what happens.”
Blue Prize has four wins and a second this year from six starts. The only blemish came in her seasonal debut, when she was seventh,
8 3/4 lengths back, on St. Patrick’s Day in the Grade 2 $350,000 Azeri Stakes for older fillies and mares.
“She’s had an amazing career and a great year for us. She’s helped us a lot,” Correas said. “She likes to win. She delivers always — almost always, she failed a bit at Oaklawn.”
The loss at Oaklawn is the only time Blue Prize has failed to hit the board. She has won seven, run second three times and run third once from 16 lifetime starts. Her career earnings stand at $964,753 heading into the Distaff.
“She always shows up and she always runs her eyeballs out,” Correas said. “She’s very honest.”
Blue Prized jogged 1 1/4 mile the wrong way Tuesday morning at Keeneland under regular exercise rider Memo Maya. She is scheduled to gallop today before getting on a van to Churchill at 6:45 a.m.
Fantasy Stakes runner-up Wonder Gadot is also entered in the Distaff. The 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro displayed her exuberance in her Tuesday exercise in preparation for Saturday’s Distaff.
Trainer Mark Casse said Canada’s champion 2-year-old filly of last year thrives on racing. In what Casse calls her Wonder Woman imitation, Wonder Gadot added some joyful leaps into her gallop.
“She does that when she is feeling good,” he said. “She is all business the rest of the time but she just gets excited when she is training. She had a spirited gallop on Monday and her work (on Oct. 25 when she breezed a half-mile in 47 flat at Churchill, the best of 37 at the distance) was perfect.”
Wonder Gadot sometimes returns to the track the day after a workout in a deviation from the customary practice of staying in the barn. Casse said he is looking forward to Wonder Gadot’s return to Churchill.
“We know she loves Churchill,” he said. “The best race she ever ran was when she was second to Monomoy Girl in the Kentucky Oaks. Her last race wasn’t great (third in the Cotillion at Parx Racing on Sept. 22) but maybe she did not care for the track which was loose in parts.”
“She just amazes me,” Casse added. “After she worked on Oct. 25, I was walking her and five minutes later she was jumping with all four feet off the ground and kicking. She has a lot of energy. That is just her. It is not something you can train into them. They either have it or they don’t. She is a rare individual.”
Two-time Count Fleet Stakes winner Whitmore is entered in Saturday’s Sprint. The multiple stakes-winning sprinter jogged a mile and galloped a mile Tuesday under Laura Moquett, wife and assistant of trainer Ron Moquett, of Hot Springs.
“He’s happy, so I’m happy,” Moquett said. “We’ll just do light stuff the rest of week to keep him happy. And, he’ll stand in the gate later this week just to remind him.”
Whitmore drew post position one on Monday.
“It’s where he likes to be,” he said. “If you look at his races, he likes to be on the inside and always seems to find the rail.”