LADIES' CLASSIC

Ask the Moon – The 6yo daughter of Malibu Moon jogged to the wire and then galloped 1 1/2m Wednesday with Heather Irion, assistant to trainer Marty Wolfson, aboard.

Ask the Moon, who was claimed for $75,000 at Belmont Park in June by Farnsworth Stables, won the Ruffian and Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga by a combined margin of 8 1/2 lengths. When she next tried the Lady’s Secret at Santa Anita, she looked like a different horse, finishing a badly beaten sixth. Yet she had a good excuse.

Trainer Marty Wolfson explained that after the race he discovered she had picked up a viral infection.

“She’s just fine now,” Irion said. “It wasn’t too serious but it really knocked her out for a while. She bounced back quick. She’s good now and ready to go.”
 

It's Tricky – The 3yo daughter of Mineshaft galloped 1 1/4m under exercise rider Rob Massey Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs.

It’s Tricky, who won the Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks, is coming off a pair of second-place finishes as the favorite, losing to front-running Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty in the Cotillion at Parx after checking in second behind Royal Delta in the Alabama.

“We like her. We feel like she fits very well. We have respect for the other fillies, obviously,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “We hope that Plum Pretty will get hooked up with (Ask the Moon), who has a lot of speed. If they both go and show speed, we’ll settle back fourth or fifth with Ramon Dominguez and hope for the best.”
 

Medaglia d'Amour – The Ben Cecil trainee jogged 1m and galloped 1 1/8m with regular exercise rider Alannah Holloway aboard while the trainer, who arrived Tuesday, watched for the first time.

“She looks good and seems to feel good,” Cecil said. “She’s in tough, but we’ll know more Friday.”

Cecil said she would school in the paddock on Thursday.
 

Miss Match – Trainer Neil Drysdale sent his Ladies’ Classic hopeful to the track early Wednesday morning.

“She had a gallop, or a canter, or whatever you want to call it,” the Hall of Fame conditioner said. “She seems to like the track, so that’s good. We’ll take her to the paddock (Thursday) afternoon to get her used to that. It all appears to be going well.”
 

Pachattack – Ladies’ Classic hopeful Pachattack went to the main track Wednesday morning and galloped about 1 1/4m under assistant trainer Andrew Morris. The 5yo Pulipt mare was all business Wednesday morning, in direct contrast to her somewhat playful gallop Tuesday.

“The first morning she was a bit full of herself as she got acclimated to the Churchill track,” trainer Gerard Butler said. “This morning it was a job well done. She went very good, even paced the whole way. I have no complaints.”

Pachattack was part of a six-horse string the England-based conditioner sent to Arlington Park this summer. Having raced solely on turf or synthetic surfaces until she finished second in the Personal Ensign in her dirt debut, Butler was asked if the Ladies’ Classic rather than the Filly & Mare Turf was the plan all along.

“Honestly, when he got her as yearling I told the owner that we’ll get her to the Breeders’ Cup,” Butler said. “(The Ladies’ Classic) was always in the back of our mind. I knew she would handle the dirt and was confident she’d pick up her form.

“It’s been a long time getting here. In her first start on the dirt, I think the mile and a quarter was a stretch for her, so I’m glad we’re turning back to a mile and an eighth. The track seemed deeper at Saratoga than it is here. She’s coming up to the race spot on.”
 

Plum Pretty – The Kentucky Oaks winner galloped 1m Wednesday morning under Jorge Alvarez. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert reported that all was well after Plum Pretty shipped from California Tuesday along with his other Breeders’ Cup contenders.

The 3yo daughter of Medaglia d’Oro will follow the same routine Thursday morning.
She comes off a record-setting romp by 7 ½ lengths in the Oct. 1 Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing.

Royal Delta – The daughter of Empire Maker, who won the Black Eyed Susan in May, galloped and made a visit to the paddock for the first time as part of her first visit to Churchill Downs.

“We think she’s a very good filly, but we’ve got to step up and try to get it done,” Mott said. “All we can ask is that she runs her race and gives us a good effort. She’s worked well for us and we’re happy with the way she’s training. I think everybody who’s seen her doing her gallops and breezes here think she’s going well.”

Mott has won three editions of this event among his six Breeders’ Cup victories, but he said there is no special knack in preparing for the 9f race.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have had some really good fillies. I wish I could say that I had a way with the fillies,” Mott quipped.
 

Super Espresso – The 4yo daughter of Medaglia d’Oro galloped 1 1/4m and made a trip to the starting gate on Wednesday morning.

“She likes Churchill,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “She seems to be coming along well. It looks like the real strength of this race is the 3-year-olds. We’re shooting for the moon, but she’s got a chance if she shows up and gives us her best race.”

That wasn’t the situation in her last start when the filly struggled on the Polytrack at Keeneland and finished 10th of 12 in the Spinster. That performance earned her a 20-1 slot on the morning line for the Ladies’ Classic.

“She’s better than that,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully she’ll prove it on Friday. She likes this track and surface as well as any she’s run on.”
 

Ultra Blend – The 5yo mare has her trainer Art Sherman excited about her prospects as she heads into what might be her final career race on Friday.

“She’s going into the Fasig-Tipton (sale) next week,” Sherman said. “She leaves here on Saturday morning to get prepared at Three Chimneys Farm. She’s been really good to us and I think she’ll run great on Friday.

“Of course there are some questions for her; first time running against this caliber of competition, first time at a mile and an eighth, and the first time at night.”

Sherman watched as Ultra Blend went through her paces Wednesday morning, galloping 1 1/2m. The trainer’s son, Alan, has been with the mare since she arrived at Churchill from Santa Anita, said the filly has been “acting really well” and has been “eating the bottom out of the feed tub.”

Sherman is no stranger to the Breeders’ Cup (finished 8th in the 2006 Sprint with Siren Lure) or to Churchill Downs. He came to the Louisville oval in 1955 as part of Kentucky Derby winner Swaps’ entourage.

“I was just 18, and I used to work him a lot,” Sherman said. The Rex Ellsworth-trained 3yo colt was ridden by Bill Shoemaker and Sherman said, “Yeah, Shoemaker got all the gold.”