Pure Clan, Capt. Candyman Can post final works

Pure Clan captured an historically key prep in the Flower Bowl (Debra Kral/Horsephotos.com) Lewis Lakin’s multiple Grade 1 winner PURE CLAN (Pure Prize) put in her final major move for her start in Friday’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) at Santa Anita by working three furlongs in :37 3/5 over the fast dirt at Churchill Downs early Sunday morning. With regular morning partner Steve Schmelzel aboard, Pure Clan was on the track at 6:15 a.m. (EST). Trainer Bob Holthus watched from his usual backstretch viewing stand and expressed satisfaction with the move. “It was a nice little work,” Holthus said. “She will load in the morning about 4 (a.m.) and when she gets to Santa Anita, she will gallop on the turf Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Garrett Gomez will have the mount on Pure Clan, who turned in her only
off-the-board finish in 15 starts with a 10th-place finish in last year’s
Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, which was also run at Santa Anita.

“We are on the same schedule as last year,” Holthus said. “She had her last
work before the race here and then shipped out. I know it was awful hot last
year out there and that could have affected her.”

Temperatures were in the mid-90s last year for the Breeders’ Cup, but the
long-range forecast for Arcadia, California, on Friday calls for a high of 81.

Capt. Candyman Can has been training over Pro-Ride at Skylight (Melissa Wirth/Horsephotos.com) Also on Sunday morning in Kentucky, David Zell and the late Joseph Rauch’s CAPT. CANDYMAN CAN (Candy Ride [Arg]) worked a half-mile in :48 2/5 under jockey Freddy Lenclud at the Skylight Training Center. “It was a good work. I was happy with him,” trainer Ian Wilkes said of the move that was accomplished over a Pro-Ride surface that is similar to the one Capt. Candyman Can will run on Saturday at Santa Anita in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1). “He will leave from Skylight and go straight to the plane in the morning,” Wilkes said. “He may go to the track at Santa Anita on Tuesday; I’ll want to see how he travels.” A four-time stakes winner this year, including the King’s Bishop S. (G1) on August 29 at Saratoga, Capt. Candyman Can finished second to fellow Sprint hopeful Fatal Bullet (Red Bullet) in his most recent start in the Phoenix S. (G3) over Keeneland’s Polytrack.

In other Breeders’ Cup news:

Trainer Tim Ice said SUMMER BIRD (Birdstone) came out of his :59 2/5 five-furlong workout Saturday in good order.

“He looks good this morning,” Ice said.
“He ate up everything last night, he ate all of his breakfast this morning. He’s
a
happy horse.”

Chip Woolley Jr. remains confident there will be enough pace in the Classic
to
benefit the late run of MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone).

“You can’t let Regal Ransom steal away
to an easy lead,” the Kentucky Derby (G1)-winning trainer said. “I can’t get a
read on the foreign horses, but there should be enough speed going a mile and
a quarter to help the closers.”

Woolley is sentimental about a leather motorcycle jacket he has had for 20
years. An inscription on the back reads, “Chip Woolley Racing Stable,” but
more significant is the number “8” in the center.

“That’s the number Mine
That Bird wore when he won the Derby,” Woolley pointed out.

The Oak Tree Racing Association and Breeders’ Cup Ltd. will run continuous
shuttles between Santa Anita and the Sierra Madre Villa Train Station in East
Pasadena between 8:30 a.m. (PST) and 7 p.m. on Friday and between 7:30 a.m. and
7 p.m. on Saturday.

It is estimated that buses will arrive at the station every 45 minutes. Shuttle
buses will be marked with a purple “Gold Line Shuttle” sign and will be parked
in berth 4 on the ground level of the Sierra Madre Villa Station.