Goldikova clears quarantine, visits the track

Goldikova, the first three-time winner in Breeders' Cup history, cleared

quarantine and went to the main track for the first time at 8:45 a.m. (EDT)

Tuesday.

The homebred daughter of Anabaa, bidding to win the Breeders' Cup Mile four

consecutive years, was part of a group of seven European-based horses that went

out for some very light morning exercise. Trainer Freddie Head was traveling to

Louisville from Europe on Tuesday and is scheduled to be at Churchill Downs

Wednesday morning.

Goldikova has been very good again this year, her fifth season of

competition, but she hasn't been perfect. In five starts, she has a record of

2-3-0 and enters the Breeders' Cup off two narrow losses in Group 1 races in

France.

"All the defeats were second places, so it's really not that bad," assistant

trainer Regis Barbedette said. "When you are looking at them, there were some

really good times, so she went faster. Maybe she won't win by three lengths, but

if she wins by one it will be plenty enough."

Barbedette said the staff in Head's barn is well aware that Goldikova is a

special horse, whose accomplishments may never be duplicated.

"It's something that you think about every day," he said. "What she already

has achieved, she's already made history. If she were to win four, it would

definitely climb up another step."

Bill Mott, the trainer of Mile rival Courageous Cat, has great respect for

the supermare.

"Obviously, she's not doing poorly by any means," Mott said. "There's people

who've been willing to say, well, a couple times she got beat and maybe she's

not the same. But maybe she is. She's obviously a great filly. If they didn't

feel she was doing well, I don't think she'd be here."

Courageous Cat, who was second in the Breeders' Cup Mile in 2009, will try

for the second time to beat Goldikova in this event. He was second in the

Woodbine Mile in his final Cup prep, a race Mott felt he probably should have

won.

"I think it was a combination of maybe the configuration of the track with

the turn coming up when it did quickly," said Mott, who has trained six

Breeders' Cup winners. "When they switch leads going into that turn they've got

over a half-mile to go. I think the horse naturally switched leads and he

probably jumped into the bridle a little bit.

"Maybe part of it is the rider, part of it is the horse himself. I guess he

probably could have been waiting a little bit. A better-timed ride and a

different race track might have been a different result."

This will be the final start for the colt bred and owned by Pam and Martin

Wygod and Will Farish. He has won two of three starts this season, including the

Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood and the Grade 3 Poker at Belmont Park.

"He's a big, good feeling colt who likes to train," Mott said. "He's a very

nice horse."

Courageous Cat, who has run at eight race tracks in his 14-race career, will

be making his first start on the Matt Winn Turf Course at Churchill Downs.