BC Distaff hopefuls stretch their legs before big event

Belle Gallantey burst upon the distaff scene this summer (Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com)

Breeders’ Cup Distaff contender Belle Gallantey continues to work under
the supervision of trainer Rudy Rodriguez from Santa Anita’s Barn 68. Since
arriving Sunday from their New York base, the two have been inseparable as the
daughter of After Market has executed her final preparations.

On Thursday morning, the highly strung mare schooled in the
paddock and galloped 1 1/2 miles at 6:30 a.m. (PDT) on the main track.

“So far so good,” Rodriguez said. “She’s doing very well and I just try to
keep her calm and feeling good.”

Claimed last December in her 36th start, the tall
Kentucky-bred mare has shown marked improvement under Rodriguez — her sixth
trainer. After three consecutive victories in allowance races to begin the year,
she contested four consecutive Grade 1 races on the East Coast — winning the
Beldame and Delaware Handicap.

“We have just had to keep an eye on the little issues she’s
had,” Rodriguez said. “We just try to keep her happy. I think making them happy
is really important with all of my horses — that’s what we always try to do and
it usually works well for us.”

Accordingly, a victory in the Distaff could have
championship implications. Division leader Close Hatches — who has three Grade
1
wins this year — is also in the race.

Close Hatches is looking to go one better than her second in last year’s BC Distaff (Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com)

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott leads the
way in the Distaff records and will try for his sixth victory with Close Hatches
on Friday.

Mott, 61, is 5-2-1 from 12 Distaff starts and has
accumulated the most purse earnings, $5.76 million. He picked up his first win
in the race with Ajina in 1997 and followed with a victory with Escena in 1998.
A dozen years later, he started another run with Unrivaled Belle winning in 2010
and Royal Delta taking the 2011 and 2012 races.

Close Hatches was second to Beholder last year and emerged
as a contender for the older female division title with three Grade 1 wins this year.
However, she faltered as the 1-5 favorite in her last start, the Spinster at
Keeneland. Mott hasn’t been able to find a reason for that unexpected result,
but says the Juddmonte Farms colorbearer is approaching the Distaff in good order.

“She seems like she acts good,” he said. “We’re in hopes that she just didn’t
like the race track over there. It’s not the kind of thing you like to say about
a champion filly; you think that they run over anything. She has run over a lot
of different racetracks in the past. She’s run well everywhere. Why she didn’t
run at Keeneland, I don’t know. She never spent any time training over that
surface. She galloped there a few mornings, but we never breezed her there.”

Don’t Tell Sophia brings a Spinster win into the Distaff (Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com)

Spinster winner Don’t Tell Sophia had a
light Thursday morning with a combined jog and gallop and trip through the
paddock under exercise rider Kerrin Meyer.

Trainer Phil Sims, who co-owns the six-year-old mare with Jerry Namy, knows what he would like to see when the gates spring open in Friday’s
Distaff.

“I’d love to see four or five of them hustle out to the
lead. That will be fine as long as the seven (Don’t Tell Sophia) is not one of
them,” Sims explained. “She will find her own position at the back of the
field.”

Don’t Tell Sophia has closed from last place to win her two
most recent races with Joe Rocco Jr. aboard both times. Rocco has the mount
again Saturday.

“I think she can run that kind of race again,” Sims said referring to the
Spinster in which Don’t Tell Sophia defeated Distaff foes Ria Antonia and Close
Hatches. “She did the same thing in the Chilukki at Churchill Downs last fall in
the mile race out of the chute, coming from way out of it.”

Friday’s race may not be the last hurrah for Don’t Tell
Sophia, who is scheduled to return to her homebase at Keeneland in Lexington,
Kentucky, early Saturday morning.

Ria Antonia returns to the site of her 2013 BC Juvenile Fillies win (Jim Tyrrell/Horsephotos.com)

Ria Antonia galloped 1 1/2 miles under Corey Black and visited the starting gate
Thursday morning.

“She went to the gate with the blinkers on that she will
race in tomorrow,” trainer Tom Amoss said. “You want to practice like you play.”

Ria Antonia will break from post position 9 Friday under Paco Lopez, a spot that represents the farthest out in the gate the
three-year-old filly
has started from in what will be her sixth outing for Amoss.

“I like it that we are toward the outside,” Amoss remarked. “It gives you a
chance to ride the race as it unfolds and that is something you may not be able
to do from the inside.”

Ria Antonia ran her best race of 2014 with a runner-up
finish in the Spinster at Keeneland, where she remained before shipping to
Southern California.