Andrew Bentley Stables’ Hardest Core continued his preparation
for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Thursday morning with a mile gallop on the Santa
Anita turf course that commenced on the hillside turf course at the
three-eighths pole, giving the son of Hard Spun a chance to cross over the same
portion of the dirt track he will traverse in Saturday’s race.
“He looked
just as good — if not better — than he did (before his win last out in the
Arlington Million),” trainer Eddie Graham said afterward. “I’m just hoping he’s
in the same kind of form as last time. He looks great and the trip didn’t bother
him at all — he’s happy. He shipped perfectly.”
“Excellent!
He felt great,” exercise rider Jody Petty exclaimed while still on horseback and
passing Clockers’ Corner.
Petty, who was previously the exercise rider for
champions Animal Kingdom and McDynamo, has worked diligently with Hardest Core
since the four-year-old survived and recovered from a nearly fatal botched castration last
year.
“His last work at the farm (seven furlongs over an undulating uphill course)
was fantastic. I tried to videotape it for the press with a helmet cam, but I
just took photographs by accident. I wish you could have seen how good it was.”
Working Hardest Core over the testing terrain of Graham’s Unionville,
Pennsylvania, farm,
Petty has helped orchestrate his return to a fitness level begetting a
three-for-three 2014 season. Overall, the Kentucky-bred whose dam is a
half-sister to Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Gilded Time has won five of his
last six races and six of 11 in his career.
“I’m really happy with him. I’m glad to have the team here too,” Graham
said of Petty and assistant/groom Brianne Slater. “I’ve known and worked with
them for over 20 years and it’s a team effort. That (comfort) takes a little bit
of the pressure off.”
While Hardest
Core’s work occurred later in the morning Thursday in order to work
on the grass, his continued preparation will be earlier in the morning on Friday
— approximately 6 a.m. (PDT) — to adjust to limited Breeders’ Cup Friday training
hours.
Their three battles are not as epic as the Triple Crown races
of Affirmed and Alydar, but Twilight Eclipse and Main Sequence have developed a
strong rivalry of their own.
In their three competitions, the last three races for both and all Grade 1s, the
Tom Albertrani-trained Twilight Eclipse was beaten by only a neck twice and was
a close third while finishing strongly. His connections hope the tables get
turned in Saturday’s Turf.
“I was talking to Graham (Motion, the trainer of Main Sequence) before he
shipped and I told him I might get my Air Force buddies to divert the plane he
was on to the Ukraine. They took off before we could get our resources set,”
joked retired U.S. Army officer and West Point graduate Terry Finley, the
president of West Point Thoroughbreds, the racing syndicate which owns Twilight
Eclipse.
“He beat us fair and square three straight times, but we came awfully close
each time. Let’s hope we change that on Saturday.
“He’s in fantastic condition right now. I am really excited about the way
he’s been training up to this race. He’s just been a little bit unlucky getting
beat less than a length in those last three starts. He just needs a little more
racing luck, but he certainly looks the part going in to the race.”
Twilight Eclipse, a five-year-old son of Purim who has six wins in 20 starts, has been one
of the most consistent grass runners in North America over the past three
seasons and will get the firm turf he relishes. The world-record holder of
2.22.63 for the 1 1/2-mile distance of the Turf has certainly earned his keep.
Sold for the bargain basement price of $1,000 as a yearling, Finley bought him
privately after his second start. The gallant gelding has gone on to earn just
shy of $1 million.
“He’s turned out to be a really good horse,” said Finley, who has 65 horses in
the syndicate, 30 of which are with Albertrani. “He’s in the right program and
Tom fits him to a T. Knock on wood, he’s also been very sound. We’ve been
extremely happy with him. I just hope he has a very good day on Saturday and
none of the other horses in there have a great day.”
Filly & Mare Turf contender
Dayatthespa has been a dependable turf runner for Chad Brown for four
successful seasons, during which she has 10 victories and four seconds in 17
starts. The key move was for Brown to recognize that she preferred grass and
they haven’t wasted a start on another surface.
“When I had her as a two-year-old we were working her on the dirt and she was
just OK,” Brown said. “Then I breezed her on the turf one day with one of the
partners there, Steve Laymon. I turned to him and said, ‘that filly will win a
million dollars if she stays sound.’ And she did.
“That was just off one breeze. That’s how talented she is. Just the first
time I put her on the turf she breezed remarkable. When you see a work like that
with a young horse you can tell.”
Dayatthespa, who will go through the auction ring next week, has earned $1.18
million.
The good news for trainer Bill Mott and Juddmonte Farms is that the
Breeders’ Cup is being held at Santa Anita, a venue that Emollient seems to
relish. The finicky four-year-old daughter of Empire Maker won the Rodeo Drive over the
course on September 27 and was second by a nose in the Gamely on May 26. In between,
she was not a factor in the Diana and the Beverly D. Last year, she was a close
fourth, beaten one length, in the Filly & Mare Turf.
“She’s good when she wants to be good,” Mott said. “She’s temperamental about
the surface that she runs over and maybe the type of trip she gets. She’s not an
easy filly. She’s very talented and she’s a multiple Grade 1 winner, but the
ground has to be right for her and the trip has to work out well for her.”
While stablemate Close Hatches, one of the favorites in the Distaff
is consistent, Emollient is a challenge.
“She’s fussier about the starting gate,” Mott said. “She’s an Empire Maker,
which gives her that. Sometimes they’re more peculiar about certain things.”
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