Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31
$2 Million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff
(Grade I)
Three-Year-Olds & Up
1 1/8 Miles
Friday, October 30
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Contact Notes Team (859) 250-0358
Calamity Kate – The Delaware Oaks winner, Calamity Kate is coming into the Longines
Breeders’ Cup Distaff in fine form according to trainer Kelly Breen.
“If Beholder was in the race, we weren’t coming,” Breen said. “Without Beholder in the race, we
thought we have just as good a shot as anybody. My horse is training fantastic. She trained and galloped
today over the muddy track.
“I think the five post is a good post for her. Edgar Prado is confident in what he has underneath
him. I believe she’ll be, if not on the front end, close enough to the front end to be in a good stalking spot.
The post position helps.”
Curalina, Got Lucky, Stopchargingmaria – The Todd Pletcher-trained trio of Distaff entrants
all galloped on the Keeneland main track Tuesday morning, along with eight other stablemates preparing
for Breeders’ Cup starts.
“They all went out early and came back safe,” Pletcher said.
Asked how the running of the Distaff might develop, Pletcher didn’t envision any problems
arising among his trainees.
“From a pace perspective, I think Curalina will find herself in mid-division somewhere, hopefully
in a good rhythm. I think Got Lucky will be further back and Stopchargingmaria will be more forwardly
placed,” Pletcher said.
All three will bring Grade 1 credentials into the Distaff. Got Lucky captured the Spinster at
Keeneland Oct. 4, while Stopshoppingmaria won the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama last
year. Curalina won this year’s Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks, the latter by disqualification.
I’m a Chatterbox, a Distaff foe, drifted into the path of Curalina in the stretch before prevailing by a nose.
“I thought based on the feedback from Johnny Velazquez when he came back that there was a
good chance we were going to be put up,” Pletcher said. “It’s not fun to win that way. I hate to not cross
the finish line first and get the win, but everything Johnny indicated to me was that he had enough
momentum to get by and it cost him the race. It was an incredibly controversial decision.”
Frivolous- Trainer Vicki Oliver took her Distaff contender Frivolous to the Keeneland training
track so early this morning that they were the only ones on the track.
“We went out at 5:30 and I galloped her a mile and a half on the polytrack,” she said. "There was
no one else out there."
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Tuesday Notes 2/2/2/2
The rest of her string moved to Margaux Farms near Midway, and she headed there after taking
Frivolous out. Oliver gallops the Empire Maker mare herself.
“I have eight I get on every day,” she said.
Frivolous has career earnings of $690,718 the majority of which was earned at four and five.
“I’ve always liked this filly. She’s one of those fillies who was really immature, but the last
couple of years she’s really gotten her act together. When she was three, she trained really aggressive and
was really tough, but now she’s grown up and put it all together.”
Oliver admits she’s a bit concerned with post position two in the 14-horse field. “I wouldn’t mind
it as much if I had like the seven-hole,” she said. “From the inside if things don’t go right, going into that
first turn, you might get boxed in and shuffled back further than you’d like.”
Peace and War – Qatar Racing’s Peace and War drew into Saturday’s Distaff field from the
also-eligible list Tuesday due to the scratch of defending champion Untapable.
Graham Motion, who was en route from Fair Hill Training Center in Northeast Maryland to
Keeneland Tuesday, trains the daughter of War Front, who finished third in the Cotillion at Parx in her
most recent outing.
Tuesday’s inclusion of Peace and War in the Distaff field came the same day Motion was forced
to scratch Tin Type Gal from Friday’s Juvenile Fillies Turf.
“She had a little problem and we couldn’t put her on the plane this morning,” said Motion’s
assistant David Rock.
Salama – Trainer Charlie LoPresti said Tuesday that Salama has shown distinct improvement
since she finished second in her North American debut in a Keeneland allowance race on Oct. 10.
“She jogged back to the gate today,” LoPresti said. “She was a little antsy when we ran her, so we
took her back there today, stood her and backed her out. Then she did an easy gallop in the mud.
“Someone commented how good her coat looks,” he said. “Some of these horses around here are
starting to get long hair but she has dapples and a slick coat. She’s really woken up since that last race.
We had her out here grazing (Monday) afternoon and she was pretty bright.”
The 3yo Kentucky-bred earned her spot in the Distaff by winning the Cesar del Rio Suito in Peru
on June 21 which is winter in the Southern Hemisphere. After unseasonably warm temperatures this past
week in Lexington, the mercury has dropped to a more seasonable norm.
“I think cold weather is the best thing in the world for horses,” LoPresti said. “She’s picked her
head up but I don’t know if it is because of the cold weather or the race (at Keeneland). I couldn’t ask her
to be doing any better.”
Sheer Drama- Trainer David Fawkes is taking it all in stride after his charge Sheer Drama drew
the far outside post in the 14-horse Distaff field.
“It is what it is,” he said. “I was very disappointed in her brother’s draw (Big Drama) when he
drew the one post in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 2010, and he won anyway. And now she draws the 14.
“But, she’s got good tactical speed, and I’ve got a good jockey. I think we’ll be fine. She’s quick
to get out of the gate, and we won’t have to hang out in there long. Small downside is the draw. I think
everything else is going to be fine. Joe Bravo (who will ride her Friday) came over and galloped her
today. She went excellent.”
Stellar Wind – Trainer John Sadler is hopeful that his filly’s two-month breather since winning
Del Mar’s Torrey Pines Stakes will make her fresh and dangerous in Friday’s Distaff.
The fact the 3yo daughter of Curlin was off two months before that victory lends some credence
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Tuesday Notes 3/3/3/3
to his feelings. “At Del Mar, the 3-year-old program is geared to the turf, so we waited for the Torrey
Pines on the dirt late in the meet.”
Stellar Wind was bought privately by Hronis Racing after she broke her maiden last December at
Laurel Park and she has won four graded stakes this year. Her one loss came when she was fourth in the
Kentucky Oaks.
Strategy for the Distaff would call for her to lay fairly close to the pace, but Sadler added, “I’ll
leave that up to Victor (Espinoza). He’s ridden her in all her races this year.”
Stellar Wind tested the main track Tuesday for an early morning gallop.
Untapable – Winchell Thoroughbreds’ 2014 Longines Distaff winner and Eclipse Awardwinning champion 3yo filly Untapable has been scratched from the Distaff by her connections. Trained
by Steve Asmussen, the daughter of Winchell stallion Tapit had worked an easy half-mile in 50 1/5 on
Monday morning at Keeneland.
“After she worked yesterday, she was scoped and they found a little bit of mucus,” said David
Fiske, Winchell’s racing manager. “Everyone had a panicked reaction, but then we thought that maybe we
could fix it and she would eat up well. Her blood-work from Monday morning came back good, but she
didn’t eat up last night and this morning she had a low-grade temperature. At that point, it’s game over
and start treating her with antibiotics.
“(Racing in 2016) hasn’t been decided,” Fiske continued. “We’ve had some brief discussions, but
nothing serious. I think everyone is leaning toward running her next year. She’s been unusually sound and
healthy for the better part of three seasons and this is the first time I can remember her being sick. Given
that, there’s a lot of support to run her next year, but you never know. The landscape changes from day to
day. Hopefully this is not anything serious. At the moment, no decision has been made.”
“A good thing is that we do have Tapiture running and he’s doing very well,” Fiske concluded.
“We also have eight sons or daughters of Tapit running, total, for the weekend – so we will get to cheer
those on.”
Wedding Toast - Godolphin Racing’s Wedding Toast shipped from New York Monday night
and arrived at Keeneland this morning. None of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s four Breeders’ Cup horses
went to the track Tuesday. McLaughin is traveling in Tuesday and is scheduled to be at the track
Wednesday morning.
McLaughlin was happy that the 4-1 morning-line favorite drew in the middle of the 14-horse
field. Wedding Toast has won three in a row, most recently the Beldame at Belmont Park on Sept. 26.
“She couldn’t be doing better. She’s doing fabulous,” McLaughlin said. “We skipped the
Personal Ensign late at Saratoga knowing that the Beldame was one turn at Belmont. We opted just to
wait. We didn’t want to, but she had a little foot issue, which soon corrected itself. She’s trained very well
and couldn’t be doing better. She’s a little bit better at two turns maybe than one turn, but she’s doing so
well that we think that she’s the filly to beat.”
Yahilwa - DP Racing’s Yahilwa and galloped 1 1/2m on the main track with assistant trainer
Amie Williams in the irons. Deron Pearson, the owner of DP Racing was at trainer Jim Cassidy’s barn to
watch his 5yo mare train and liked what he saw. He then commented on her most recent outing, a thirdplace effort in the Juddmonte Spinster in which she was beaten only a neck at odds of 20-1.
“She had been training real well coming into that race so we were expecting her to run well,”
Pearson said. “But we weren’t expecting her to run as well as she did. I think that race just goes to show
that she’s improving. I think she likes this track more than she likes any others.”
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