JUVENILE

Alpha – The 2yo son of Bernardini made his first trip to the Churchill Downs track Wednesday morning and galloped 1 1/4m under exercise rider Rob Massey.

Alpha debuted at Saratoga with an off-the-pace, six-length score in a 7f maiden special weight race. The Kiaran McLaughlin-trained colt came on late to finish second in the Champagne Stakes at Belmont, beaten 5 1/2 lengths by Union Rags, the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Juvenile.

“I’m not sure how we’re going to make up five lengths on Union Rags,” McLaughlin said. “We’re coming into the race great. We were the only 2yo in the last race in the Champagne making our second start, so this is our third start. Hopefully we improve each start.”

McLaughlin expects Alpha to move up going two turns in the Juvenile. “It should be (a benefit), but it won’t be a negative for Union Rags,” said McLaughlin with a smile.

Garrett Gomez will ride Alpha for the first time.


Creative Cause – The three-time winner from California got his first test of the Churchill Downs dirt surface Wednesday morning, as did his trainer Mike Harrington after both arrived from California.

“He seemed to like the track,” Harrington said at the end of the colt’s 1m gallop. “He got over it really well.”

The gray/roan 2yo son of Giant’s Causeway continues his debut day in Louisville by schooling in the paddock during the day’s first race.


Crusade/Daddy Long Legs – Crusade and Daddy Long Legs were part of the final contingent of eight colts from the stable of Aidan O’Brien that arrived at Churchill Downs Tuesday at 8:22 p.m. and are housed in the second quarantine barn.


Drill – The Juvenile contender jogged 1m with exercise rider Dana Barnes in the saddle Wednesday morning after arriving from California on Tuesday. Hall of Fame and two-time Juvenile winning trainer Bob Baffert (Vindication, 2002; Midshipman, 2008) will send Drill for a gallop about the same distance Thursday morning.    

“He still has a little bit to prove,” Baffert said of the 2yo son of Lawyer Ron. “In his last race, he got tired turning for home. I took the blinkers off of him and was hoping that (will) help because he likes a target to run at, but I think he was too far back last time. We’ll let him get into the race here. He’s still young.”

Drill comes off a runner-up finish in the Oct. 1 Norfolk Stakes and won the Del Mar Futurity in September. He drew post 4 in the Juvenile. Martin Garcia has the mount.


Dullahan  – The Breeders’ Futurity winner galloped 1 ½ m on Wednesday as he prepares for the toughest test of his career.

“Like my other two Breeders’ Cup horses (Shackleford and Court Vision), I couldn’t be happier with how he’s doing,” said trainer Dale Romans. “Union Rags is obviously the one to beat and the horse that seems to be training really well is Take Charge Indy, but we’re very happy with our horse.”


Fort Loudon – A return trip to the Breeders’ Cup has come as a bit of a surprise for trainer Stanley Gold, who starts Fort Loudon in the Juvenile and Awesome Belle in the Juvenile Fillies, but the overall success achieved by his Florida-bred 2yo’s has come as no shock to the Calder-based conditioner.

“Other than Kentucky-breds, Florida-bred horses are right up there when it comes to winning classic races,” Gold said. “And while the best of those horses don’t always go to Calder, we’ve got some good ones down there that maybe slip through the cracks because they don’t have a glamorous pedigree. But they’re Florida-breds, and they can run.

“And just being up here again (for the Breeders’ Cup) is good for the Florida Stallion Stakes and the whole Florida breeding program.”

Over the past three years, Gold has swept a three-race division of the Florida Stallion Stakes an unprecedented three straight times, accomplishing the feat with Jackson Bend in 2009, Awesome Feather in 2010, and Fort Loudon this season.

And while Gold passed on a start in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup with Jackson Bend, he shipped Awesome Feather to last year’s event and was rewarded with an Eclipse Award-clinching victory in the Juvenile Fillies.

“I’m fortunate to have an owner (Fred Brei of Jacks or Better Farm) that not only believes in, and wants to improve his breeding program, but is willing to spend the money and go out of town to go after these big races.”  


Hansen – Less than two months ago, the 2yo son of Tapit was an unraced maiden. Now he’s a 10-1 morning-line shot in the Juvenile.

“This horse showed us a lot in the mornings before he ever ran in a race,” trainer Mike Maker said. “We had high aspirations for the horse, and the Turfway races just fell into our timeline. We broke his maiden and then came back in two weeks for the Kentucky Cup in order to accelerate his progress.”

Hansen’s two wins have come by 25 ½ combined lengths.


Optimizer – Trainer D. Wayne Lukas gave his 2yo son of English Channel almost a day off Wednesday, asking him only to walk his shedrow.


Prospective – Trainer Mark Casse’s two Breeders’ Cup hopefuls were to be schooled in the paddock on Wednesday afternoon, with Juvenile contender Prospective taking a look around during the fourth race and Juvenile Fillies runner Northern Passion having her visit during the first race. But Casse wouldn’t be there to supervise because he was headed to the hospital to meet his new grandson.

“My daughter, Cheryl, had a baby yesterday. His name is Landon,” he said before both horses headed out to the track in the morning. “As soon as we’re done with training, I’m going to Baptist East Hospital here in Louisville to be with my daughter, son-in-law, and the baby. This is exciting and it was good timing. The baby was born while I was in town.”

Casse, a three-time Sovereign Award winner as Outstanding Trainer who is based at Woodbine in Canada, knows his way around the maternity ward. He is the father of seven children, including his top assistant Norman who is here with him, and Landon is his third grandchild.

On Wednesday, Prospective galloped 1 ½ m and stood in the gate. Casse indicated that he is very pleased with the way the son of Malibu Moon is coming up to the race.


Union Rags – The undefeated Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile favorite continued to get acquainted with Churchill Downs Wednesday, galloping 1 ½m after the renovation break with assistant trainer Peter Brette aboard.

The Dixie Union colt, along with Juvenile Fillies Turf contender Somali Lemonade, will be the first Breeders’ Cup starters for trainer Michael Matz since 2006 when he won the Distaff (now Ladies’ Classic) with Round Pond.

“It is unusual that I’m back at the Breeders’ Cup with two juveniles, but I’ll take it,” said Matz. “This year, the 2-year-olds were just ready to run and we’re fortunate that they’ve done so well. They’ve done it all themselves. Sometimes you just get precocious 2-year-olds. Each case is different, but these two horses in particular have handled everything. At this same point (his 2006 Kentucky Derby winner) Barbaro had only made one start.”


JUVENILE FILLIES

Awesome Belle – When trainer Stanley Gold saddled two Jacks or Better Farm homebred fillies for the Florida Stallion Stakes My Dear Girl Division at Calder on Oct. 15, it was two-time stakes winner Redbud Road that overshadowed maiden winner Awesome Belle.

But after a 7 ½-length victory that day, it was Awesome Belle that emerged as the stable’s leading 2yo filly and representative in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, a race the team of Gold and Jacks or Better Farm won last year with Awesome Feather.

“She was always outworking our other filly (Redbud Road) who kept beating her in races,” Gold said. “But she just couldn’t go (in a race) without getting impeded; nothing was going right for her. But she kept trying and she was always finishing her races well. And sometimes bad racing luck becomes good racing luck.

“In her last start, she didn’t get all tangled up in the beginning and made the lead early, so she really had no chance to find any trouble that day. And that day we finally saw the kind of performance we had expected from her all along.”  


Candrea – The Juvenile Fillies contender galloped 1m with exercise rider Dana Barnes in the saddle Wednesday morning after arriving from California Tuesday. She’ll do the same on Thursday, according to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

The 2yo daughter of Trippi punched her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup with a game runner-up effort to fellow Juvenile Fillies contender Wemissfrankie in the Oct. 2 Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita.

“Candrea really surprised me; her work before the last race was horrendous,” Baffert said. “She’s not a flashy worker, especially when she’s by herself, but she ran so much better than she worked, I thought she deserved a chance.”

Candrea breaks from post 2 at odds of 6-1 under jockey Martin Garcia in Friday’s Juvenile Fillies.


Frolic's Revenge – Frolic’s Revenge arrived on Tuesday after a van ride from Florida and went to the Churchill Downs main track for the first time on Wednesday morning.

“She galloped for a mile and a half and she was strong. Very strong. She was very keen,” exercise rider Karyn Wiltek said. “She was liking the track.”

Frolic’s Revenge had no trouble acclimating to new her surroundings and all of the Breeders’ Cup activity.

“This is a very smart filly,” trainer Milt Wolfson said. “She takes to new things like she’s been doing them all of her life. She’s never seen lights on the track or been in the cold before, but she’s fine with all of it. Everything is copacetic.”


Grace Hall – Grace Hall, the undefeated winner of three lifetime starts, galloped 7f and broke from the gate Wednesday morning.

“She looked as good going over the Churchill Downs surface as she did going over any other track,” trainer Tony Dutrow said. “She’s happy.”

The 2yo daughter of Empire Maker won two races, including the Blue Hen Stakes around two turns, at Delaware Park as well as the Spinaway at Saratoga. Dutrow has had a lot of nice horses in his barn, including Havre de Grace when she finished third in the 2010 Ladies’ Classic, and he’s high on this filly.

“This one is a dream come true,” Dutrow said “She came to us at the end of May and everything has gone as good as possible. We’ll see how nice she is at the end of the day, but she is easy to train, works well, and has excelled and matured.”


Miss Netta – The daughter of Street Sense galloped 1 1/4m under exercise rider Rob Massey Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs.

The Kiaran McLaughlin-trained filly, who debuted with a front-running victory at Saratoga in August, will attempt to rebound from a troubled third-place finish in the Frizette at Belmont in her last start.

McLaughlin wasn’t completely surprised when Miss Netta broke to the inside at the start of the Frizette, causing her to drop back to a distant sixth during the early going.

“Randy Bradshaw broke her and told me she’s funny in the gate and I might need a Monty Roberts blanket,” McLaughlin said. “We took her to the gate and we didn’t have any problems. We kept going, and we didn’t have any problems. She broke first time on the lead and won. We never saw any problems, but Randy was correct.”

“She was a little bit of an issue in the gate the second start, so since then we’ve schooled her a lot. She broke from the gate under (jockey) Rajiv Maragh Saturday and went 46-and-change. So hopefully she’ll break Friday.”

Miss Netta will be schooled in the gate Thursday morning.


My Miss Aurelia – Having trained champion Rachel Alexandra, among others, trainer Steve Asmussen has plenty of experience with top class females. But when it comes to his likely Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies favorite, he’s not going to get ahead of himself.           

“The Juvenile Fillies presents a tremendous opportunity,” Asmussen said. “You have ideas on how the race is going to go, but in the end you just want it to go smoothly. She’s got plenty on her plate this week. What she can eventually become, only time will tell.”

The 2yo daughter of Smart Strike will attempt to run her undefeated streak to four on Friday.
 

Northern Passion – When Northern Passion runs on Friday, jockey Luis Contreras will wear the silks of owner John Oxley. For many north of the border, she’ll carry the lasting imprint of Mel Lawson, who was inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame in 2010 and passed away only three months ago at the age of 88.

Northern Passion is the first horse bred or owned by Lawson, a former professional football player who raced 60 stakes winners under the nom de course Jim Dandy Stable for more than 50 years in Canada, to be in the Breeders’ Cup.

“Winning with her would be a very big deal because she was bred by Mel Lawson. He was a very well respected and well-liked man,” trainer Mark Casse said. “I don’t know of a better honor for him and for Canadian-breds than if she would pull off a win in the Breeders’ Cup.”

Only four horses bred in Canada have won a Breeders’ Cup event in the more than 200 races run over the first 27 editions. They are Hall of Famer Dance Smartly (1991 Distaff), Chief Bearhart (1997 Turf), Awesome Again (1998 Classic) and Maryfield (2007 Filly & Mare Sprint).

“My dad sure would have liked to be there,” Jim Lawson, the chief steward of the Ontario Jockey Club and a member of the Woodbine Entertainment board of directors, said by phone from Canada.

“This would be a further stamp of approval, with a big underline if, if she wins. It would be very meaningful to the Ontario breeding program if she can go down there and perform well at this high level. I will be at the Breeders’ Cup. Without getting too sentimental about my dad, it would be awfully nice to see the little guy win.”

Mel Lawson only bred and raced a small handful of horses each year, but his runners won every major stake in Canada and brought home six Sovereign Awards. Destroy was the country’s champion broodmare in 2010.

“Destroy is the only one we are keeping,” Lawson said. “Northern Passion’s dam (A Touch of Glory) is being sold on Monday at Keeneland and Ginger Gold (a 2001 Sovereign winner) who would be her aunt, is being sold on Wednesday.”

In addition to his involvement with racing, Lawson is best remembered as the youngest quarterback to win the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup when at age 20 he scored the winning touchdown for the Hamilton Wildcats against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

On Wednesday, Northern Passion schooled in the paddock during the first race and galloped 1 ½ m


Self Preservation – It was another routine day for the daughter of Lion Heart, this time under the watchful eye of trainer Ben Cecil, who was on the grounds for the first time after a flight from California on Tuesday.

With exercise rider Alannah Holloway aboard, the filly jogged 4f and galloped 1 1/8m.

Cecil said the filly would school in the paddock on Thursday.


Questing – Princess Haya of Jordan’s Hard Spun filly went to the track at 7:30 a.m. for light exercise.

Trainer John Gosden was traveling from Europe on Wednesday and is expected to be at the track Thursday morning. Questing won her debut at seven furlongs in June and has been narrowly beaten in a pair of turf stakes since. She will make her first start on dirt in the Juvenile Fillies.


Weemissfrankie – Trainer Eurton Peter planned a paddock schooling for the juvenile filly during the fourth race Wednesday after a strong 1 1/8m gallop in the morning.

“She likes to be out of her stall, so we’ll take her over there and let her see all the purple,” the trainer said. “Besides, it gives us something to do. When you’re used to training a lot of horses and then all of a sudden you have only one to be concerned with, it’s easy to get bored.”