Breeders’ Cup World Championships
Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31
$2 Million Breeders’ Cup Mile (Grade I)
Three-Year-Olds & Up
One Mile (Turf)
Saturday, October 31
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Contact Notes Team (859) 250-0358
Esoterique – See European Report
Grand Arch – The winner of Keeneland’s Shadwell Turf Mile on Oct. 3, Grand Arch,
had only light exercise about 8:30 Tuesday morning as he prepares for his third consecutive
graded stakes victory.
“We jogged him today because the track was sloppy; we didn’t get too creative,” trainer
Brian Lynch said of the 6yo Arch gelding going into the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Grand Arch took a few turns in the saddling paddock and walking ring and then reentered
the track through the grandstand tunnel to complete his exercise. He was ridden by Louis
Rushlow and was accompanied by stable pony Casey and Erin Cotterill.
“We let him stand on the track for a while to take it all in,” Lynch said.
Karakontie – See European Report
Make Believe – See European Report
Mondaliste – See European Report
Obviously (Ire) – Obviously and his stablemate Big John B, both trained by Phil
D’Amato, are scheduled to arrive at the Lexington Bluegrass Airport at approximately 3:20 p.m.
via Tex Sutton, the same flight as Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
Recepta – Phillip Racing Parnership and Pam Gartin’s Recepta enters the Breeders’ Cup
Mile in top form for trainer Jimmy Toner. The daughter of Speightstown has won three of her
last five, including two consecutive one-mile turf stakes in New York coming into the Mile. The
4yo filly will take on the boys coming off a gritty victory in the Noble Damsel at Belmont on
Sept. 19. She finished up her serious preparation for the Mile with a 5f turf move on Oct. 24 at
Belmont in 1:03 flat.
“She really couldn’t be doing any better right now,” Toner said. “We couldn’t get into the
Filly & Mare Turf, and we may have wanted that one instead, but the fact of the matter is she’s
undefeated going a mile. I think she has equally as good a chance in each race and she’s a really
talented, fast filly.”
Recepta breaks from post two under John Velazquez, who has been aboard for two of her
previous three wins.
She arrived early Tuesday, walked and grazed, and is expected to go to the main track on
Wednesday.
Tepin – While Mother Nature may have thrown a wrench into the works for some of the
Breeders’ Cup trainers on Tuesday, Mark Casse wasn’t one of them.
“This is Tepin weather. She loves it. I’ll take the cold and rainy any day for Tepin,” said
the seven-time Sovereign Award winner, who just finished in a three-way tie for leading trainer
honors at Keeneland’s fall meet.
The 4yo daughter of Bernstein takes on the boys and a particularly strong contingent of
European turf specialists in the Mile, but Casse and owner Robert Masterson won’t have to
worry how she’ll handle Keeneland’s turf course or any going that is less than firm.
“She really likes this course,” said Casse, who saddled her to a dazzling 7-length score on
a “soft” course here in the First Lady last out. “Some horses don’t take to it because it’s just a
little different.
“Over the years, I’ve had some horses that were really good turf horses that would run
good and always had real consistent form, and then would come here and run terrible, and then
run at Churchill and run well. It’s just the make-up of it. It’s got a lot of sand, I guess. There are
definitely horses that won’t run on this turf course. But we know she will.”
Tepin, whose ideal distance is 1m, would be undefeated this year in six starts save for a
nose loss to Hard Not to Like in the 1 1/8m Diana followed by a head loss to Dacita in the 1 1/16
m Ballston Spa. Both of those horses are competing in the Filly & Mare Turf.
“Tepin has been a joy for us all year long. She’ll run on anything or anywhere but she
does not like the heat. When she ran at Saratoga, she was exhausted. But after her last race, she
didn’t even take a deep breath. She was pretty well geared down in the last sixteenth of a mile,”
said Casse.
Tepin is also at an advantage in that she does not have to ship very far. She has been
stabled in Casse’s Churchill Downs division, which is overseen by his son and top assistant,
Norman.
Tourist – When asked on Monday about his decision to enter Lea in the Dirt Mile instead
of the Mile, Bill Mott said he based the decision in part on the likelihood of a soft turf on
Saturday.
On Tuesday morning in a steady drizzle after overnight rains, Mott looked clairvoyant.
His Breeders’ Cup entrants stayed in the barn after having their final serious workouts on
Monday’s fast track. All were walked by hand for about 40 minutes.
“You have to be able to change things at the last minute,” his son and assistant Riley
Mott said. “The forecast said it would be pretty heavy on rain in the next few days, so when you
have a fast track, you really have to take advantage of it. It wasn’t a difficult decision to breeze
(Monday).”
“They all came back very well today so we’re happy,” he said. “It’s still a long way to the
races and you’re never really there until you get in the gate. Everything is day to day.”
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