Friday, September 17, 2010
Contact: NYRA Press Office
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- Blame to arrive in New York September 30 for G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup
- Afleet Express doing well following Travers victory; Gold Cup possible
- Gold Cup hopeful Rail Trip exits Thursday's 6f work in good order; Acting Happy looking toward G1 Gazelle
- Japanese invader Red Desire arrives in New York for Flower Bowl
- Stakes fields coming together for G2 Gallant Bloom, John Hettinger (NYB)
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Albert Stall, Jr. said Friday that Grade 1 Whitney winner Blame would arrive at Belmont Park on Thursday, September 30, in advance of his expected next start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational, one of five Grade 1 Races scheduled for Super Saturday, October 2.
"He'll breeze twice more at Keeneland – this Sunday [September 19] and on the 26th," said Stall, who trains the 4-year-old son of Arch for Adele B. Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm. "The plane leaves
Blame breezed six furlongs over the Keeneland Polytrack on September 12, covering the distance in 1:11.80, handily.
"His last work was a really strong work," Stall said. "He's doing great; he's ready. He's a very happy horse – not picky about anything. We thought he was doing great [in
Blame has won five consecutive races, including a pair of Grade 1 contests in the Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 12, and the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga Race Course on August 7, in which he upset another top older male in training, Quality Road, who went on to win the Grade 1 Woodward in his next start.
Among those Blame could face in the Gold Cup are the 1-2 finishers from the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, Afleet Express and Fly Down, as well as Rail Trip, who missed by a half-length in the July 10 Hollywood Gold Cup. Dry Martini, sixth on the grass in the Grade 2 Bowling Green at
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Afleet Express, winner of the Grade 1 Travers on August 28, has settled in at
"He's doing OK," said Jimmy Jerkens, who trains the son of Afleet Alex for Gainesway Stable and Martin L. Cherry. "We don't know yet if we are going to the Gold Cup. We're undecided."
The Gold Cup would be Afleet Express' first start against older horses.
"It'd be tough, but it's been done before," said Jerkens. "We'd get a weight break, and 3-year-olds can fair well late in the year. He's still a pretty fresh horse. He hasn't been over-raced, and he didn't race in the spring."
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Rail Trip, also looking toward a start in the Gold Cup, exited a six furlong breeze at Aqueduct on Thursday in good order, according to trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr.
Under jockey Cornelio Velasquez, the son of Jump Start worked in company with multiple graded stakes winner Arson Squad, covering six furlongs in 1:11.92, according to NYRA Clockers.
"I thought the work was good, and he came out of it well," said Dutrow. "We're happy with the horse."
Rail Trip, who was briefly sidelined with a foot problem this summer in
Also on the worktab Thursday for Dutrow was another Jay Em Ess trainee, Acting Happy, who finished third in the Betfair TVG Coaching Club American Oaks and Betfair TVG Alabama this summer at
"We'll probably wait on the Gazelle at Aqueduct," Dutrow said. "I don't see anything I really like for her in between, and that's fine."
The Grade 1, $250,000 1 1/8-mile Gazelle is one of four graded stakes races scheduled for Saturday, November 27 at Aqueduct, a card which will also feature the Grade 1, $250,000 Hill 'n' Dale Cigar Mile Handicap, and the Remsen and Demoiselle, both $200,000 1 1/8-mile contests for juveniles.
Dutrow added that Grade 1 Three Chimneys Hopeful winner Boys At Tosconova continues to do well following his impressive victory in the closing day feature at
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Red Desire, the Group 1 winner in
"She had a very long trip, about 24 hours," said Nobutaka Tada, racing manager for Yoko Yamamoto's Tokyo Horse Racing. "She was tired last night for sure, but she seems OK. This morning she was fine."
Tada said Red Desire's connections decided to send her to the
"We can't give her Lasix in
A daughter of the Sunday Silence stallion Manhattan Cafe, Red Desire defeated her nemesis Buena Vista by a nose in the 2009 Group 1 Shuka Sho, having previously finished second to that rival in the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) and the Yushun Himba (Japanese 1000 Guineas). Following a third in the Group 1 Japan Cup, Red Desire went to
Tada believes the Flower Bowl's 1 ¼-mile distance is perfect for Red Desire, who has won at distances ranging from 1600 meters (approximately one mile) to 2000 meters (approximately 1 ¼ miles) and was third going 2400 meters (approximately 1 ½ miles) in the Japan Cup.
"We like a mile and a quarter to a mile and a half," said Tada. "She won going a mile and a quarter in
Yoko Yamomoto's husband, Hidetoshi Yamamoto, owns Casino Drive, who came from Japan to win the 2008 Grade 2 Peter Pan at Belmont, and that experience was a factor in the decision to have Red Desire come to Belmont Park to prep for the Breeders' Cup.
"We like the track and the people in
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Next Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 Gallant Bloom is the first Breeders' Cup Challenge race of the 2010
The $100,000 John Hettinger Stakes, to be run Sunday, September 26th, will bring together a group of New York-bred fillies and mares going 1 1/8-miles on the Inner turf. The majority of the contenders exit the William B. Fasig and the Yaddo, both New York-bred turf stakes run in
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