Hardest Core in Million-esque form

Hardest Core defeated 2013 BC Turf winner Magician in the Arlington Million (Bob Newell/Horsephotos.com)

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.”

Twilight Eclipse is still trying to figure out how to beat Main Sequence (Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com)

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.

Emollient’s moods aren’t always soothing (Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com)

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.