Weekend Racing Recap
“The king lives up to his name” (Globe and Mail). Bobby Frankel’s Leroidesanimaux stretched his winning streak to eight when he won the Atto Mile at Woodbine on Sunday. Frankel was pleased with the way Leroi handled the soft turf and felt certain the colt was headed to the Breeders’ Cup Mile despite not being nominated. “I’m sure the owner wants to supplement [to the Breeders’ Cup] and if he’s doing really well, we’ll probably go. The only concern today, which will be in the Breeders’ Cup, too, at Belmont, was the soft ground. At least that’s one good thing we got out of the way, that he can handle soft ground,” said Frankel (Blood-Horse).
Folklore marked herself the early favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies with a sharp 14 length win in Saturday’s Matron Stakes at Belmont. “She was jumping out of her skin in the post parade; she was ready to run today,” said jockey Edgar Prado after the race (Daily Racing Form).
The Matron didn’t get off to a very good start — Along the Sea, who finished third behind Miss Norman, spooked in the gate, bursting through the door before the start. India tried to follow, striking her head against the gate and knocking one side of her door open. Along the Sea was caught and reloaded; India was backed out, and despite bleeding from her mouth, also reloaded. “India got all shook up there,” said rider John Velazquez. “I knew we should have scratched right then. She was all nervous, and she has never been like that” (Blood-Horse). The field favorite, India broke slowly when the gate opened for real and “threw in the towel early,” finishing last.
The Futurity wasn’t without trouble either. Disco’s Son stumbled breaking from the gate, throwing rider Javier Castellano. The riderless horse then ran along the rail in front of the field for the rest of the race, complicating things. Jerry Bailey, aboard winner Private Vow, found a silver lining in the incident (Daily Racing Form):
Castellano was uninjured. Trainer Steve Asmussen said that Private Vow may start in the Champagne and is likely for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. “He came here to Belmont because if he belonged in the Breeders’ Cup I didn’t want him going anywhere else first, and that’s what we’re trying to get to,” said Asmussen.
Even money favorite Shaniko earned his first stakes win with a four and a half length victory in Saturday’s Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway. Trainer Todd Pletcher, while thrilled by Shaniko’s performance, was decidedly noncommittal when it came to saying whether or not the four-year-old colt’s next race might be the Breeders’ Cup Classic. “Today certainly makes you feel more confident. At some point he will deserve to step up to bigger leagues than today off that performance. But we just have to see where that will be” (Courier-Journal).
