Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31
$2 Million Breeders’ Cup
Filly & Mare Turf (Grade I)
Three-Year-Olds & Up Fillies & Mares
1 3/16 Miles (Turf)
Saturday, October 31
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Contact Notes Team (859) 250-0358
Bawina – See European Report
Hard Not to Like – Speedway Stables’ Hard Not to Like certainly has lived up to her name,
winning three Graded stakes races this year for first-time owners Speedway Stable, who plucked her out
of the 2014 Keeneland November sale for $1.5 million even though she was 5yo at the time and had just
two Graded stakes wins on her resume.
Sent to trainer Christophe Clement, the daughter of Hard Spun has enjoyed her best year yet,
recording back-to-back Grade 1 scores. Although she disappointed in her last effort as the short priced
favorite when she refused to relax, her connections feel that is in no way indicative of how she will fare
in the $2 Million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
“You can put a line through her race in the Rodeo Drive at Santa Anita and throw it out. Maybe
she didn’t handle the shipping (from New York),” said Christophe Lorieul, the top assistant to Clement.
“Before that, she won a Grade 1 at Santa Anita and then she ran very well to set the course record
(1:45.1) in the Diana at Saratoga in August. She has been training well up to this race and we know she
is a good horse.”
She proved to Clement that she deserves her Breeders’ Cup berth with her final breeze Oct. 24
on Belmont Park’s inner turf course under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez , who rode her in the
Diana and will reunite with her Saturday.
Hard Not to Like has bankrolled $1,261,921, with $540,250 of the total coming this year alone
for her new owners Peter Fluor and K.C. Weine. They are partners in the energy business in Texas and
race under the Speedway Stables banner. Both of their fathers owned racehorses, but Hard Not to Like is
their first purchase.
On Tuesday morning, she jogged one mile over the wet and sealed Keeneland strip under regular
exercise rider Lee Vickers. Lorieul said her training and schooling plans for the rest of the week are
dependent upon the weather.
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Elektrum – Trainer John Sadler chose not to send the 4yo daughter of High Chaparrel after she
landed on the race’s also-eligible list for the Filly & Mare Turf.
“When she didn’t make the field, we chose to take her off the plane,” he said. “I didn’t want to
send her and then have her not get in; take her all that way and not get the chance to run. She’ll run
Sunday at Del Mar in the Goldikova Stakes at a mile.”
Legatissimo – See European Report
Miss France – See European Report
Queen’s Jewell – See European Report
Secret Gesture – See European Report
Sharla Rae – “It looks like a very tough race, what with all the European grass runners in there,”
trainer Doug O’Neill said Tuesday morning. “But she’s an honest filly and she’ll give her all. She’ll
need a ground saving trip.”
O’Neill sent Sharla Rae to Keeneland’s five-eighths mile training track and was happy for that.
“The track was perfect for us,” he said. He said Sharla Rae galloped a mile with Jonny Garcia aboard.
She’ll be ridden by Jose Lezcano.
Chad Brown (Watsdachances, Stephanie’s Kitten and Dacita) – Trainer Chad Brown
watched from the frontside of Keeneland Tuesday morning as all 12 of his Breeders’ Cup runners
galloped on the main track.
Todd Pletcher’s 17 starters in 2006 is the Breeders’ Cup record. If all of his entered horses run,
it could be the third consecutive year that Brown, 36, has the most starters. He led the way with 11 in
2014 and 10 in 2013.
Last year at Santa Anita, Brown had a brilliant Breeders’ Cup, winning three races. He
acknowledged Tuesday morning that it would be difficult to match or better the 2014 results.
“When you win one Breeders’ Cup race you have to be very thankful. They are so hard to win,”
he said. “To win three in a year last year was just remarkable. A lot of luck involved. Great horses at the
right time, the right trips and it all came together.
“We have a good group here. It’s going to be tough. Most of my races are on the turf and it
seems like the Europeans brought some of their best horses this year. So it’s going to be a tall order, but
my horses are really doing well. It’s a good group, a good solid group. I don’t know that I have a real
standout in the race that I think is unbeatable, like a Lady Eli, but I see horses in here that can win if
they get the trip, they take to the Keeneland turf and you get that much-needed racing luck.”
His trio of Filly and Mare Turf runners will take on four-time Group 1 winner Legatissimo. Even
though the European stars have impressive credentials, Brown isn’t ready to concede defeat.
“I’m confident that they will hold their own, if they get a trip,” he said. “They’re a real tough
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group, the two standouts in the Turf race and the Filly and Mare Turf. Those are two of their best horses
from Europe, so I don’t take it lightly. I’m not going to buy into that they can run their B races and beat
our horses, though. If my horses run their A races and they don’t run their A race or have trouble, I can
see my horses winning.”
However, Brown said Golden Horn and Legatissimo pose monumental challenges.
“They are standout horses,” he said. “They are the horses to beat and if they run their A races
and get clean trips, they’re going to be nearly impossible to beat.”
Talmada – See European Report
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