LADIES' CLASSIC

Ask the Moon – The 6yo daughter of Malibu Moon has started 33 times during her career, but only the last four have been for her current owner Farnsworth Stables. And according to Heather Irion, assistant to trainer Marty Wolfson, the Ladies’ Classic will be the last time she will race in their colors.

“This is it for her. She’s going to be sold in the Fasig-Tipton sale (Sunday),” Irion said. “She’ll be 7. It’s time for her to be a mommy. But we’re all going to really miss her.”

Ask the Moon was claimed for $75,000 in June and has won two Grade 1 races at Saratoga, the Ruffian and the Personal Ensign.

“When she went in for a tag, we took her. She’s a Malibu Moon (so the value was there as a broodmare prospect),” Farnsworth Stables co-owner Myron Miller said. “She has been wonderful for us ever since.”

Farnsworth Stables and Wolfson will also be represented by Ann of the Dance in the Juvenile Fillies Turf.

“We hope that ‘Little Ann’ will take her (Ask the Moon) place, but she’s got pretty big shoes to fill,” Irion said. “Ask the Moon is special.”

With Irion aboard, Ask the Moon jogged to the wire and galloped 1 1/2m Thursday morning. Wolfson was scheduled to arrive from South Florida on Friday


It's Tricky – The daughter of Mineshaft galloped 1 1/4m under Rob Massey Thursday morning at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin expressed confidence in his Coaching Club American Oaks winner.

 “We feel Plum Pretty will be entertained by Marty Wolfson’s filly (Ask the Moon) and maybe another one,” McLaughlin said. “And we’re going to lay third to sixth and put in our run at the quarter-pole. We love our chances. She’s a multiple Grade 1 winner and she is a nice filly who is doing great.”
 

Medaglia d'Amour – Kristina Cecil and Zillah Reddam’s 5-year-old mare was taken out of Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic by trainer Ben Cecil Thursday morning after developing a temperature.

“We scratched her this morning because she had a 102 temperature,” Cecil said. “She coughed a couple of times, too, so we can’t run her like that.”


Miss Match – Trainer Neil Drysdale oversaw a standard “trot and a gallop” for the 6yo Argentine mare on Thursday morning in her final preparations for Friday’s start in the Ladies’ Classic.

The conditioner was asked why he chose the Ladies’ Classic at 9f on the main track as opposed to the Filly & Mare Turf at 11f, a race earlier on the grass, considering that the races have the same purse ($2 million), and that Miss Match has shown an affinity for longer distances.

“She’s been running on the dirt for most of her career and her few turf races weren’t exceptional,” he said. “I know she doesn’t like the soft turf, and that’s what you get here at this time of year. By November this (turf) course gets soft and stays that way.”

As far as her future beyond Friday’s Breeders’ Cup start?

“I believe the plan is to race her through next spring, then send her to Australia to be bred,” Drysdale said. “Her owner is from down there.”


Pachattack – Trainer Gerard Butler took a minute Thursday morning to reflect on the conditioning of his 5yo mare as she headed to the track for a gallop one day prior to her engagement in Friday’s Ladies’ Classic.

“I’m really looking forward to the race,” Butler said.  “My only real concern for (Friday) is the 2 hole.  Otherwise I’m really positive on her.  She seems to like the track an awful lot and seems to be holding her form very well.

“We’re very excited.  This has been the plan for a long, long time, but as you know, 99 times out of 100 the plans don’t come off.  Hopefully, this is the time it does.  We’ll see. It seems like a long time since she won the (Arlington) Matron (in her 2011 U.S. debut).”

The Ladies’ Classic will be just her second start on dirt – the first being a second-place finish in the Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Sept. 3.

“I’m so pleased she seems to handle the dirt,” Butler said.  “She’s got this devastating stride on her and great momentum.  I always felt if she could take to the dirt, she’d be good on it.  She’s got a great heart on her.  I think there’s going to being a huge improvement in her.”

Butler said Pachattack is coming up to the Ladies’ Classic better than she did in her most recent start, a second-place finish in the Spinster over the Keeneland Polytrack.

“When we went into the Spinster, I was 50-50 on her condition,” Butler said.  “I don’t think she looked as good then as she does now.  I think we’ve had a better run up to this. I guess we’ll find out at 7:30 tomorrow night.  She’ll have to be up to her A-game no doubt. I know she’s 12-1 (on the morning line) and she might be compromised a little bit by the 2 hole, but I think she’s going to run her race. “


Plum Pretty – The Kentucky Oaks winner galloped 1m under exercise rider George Alvarez Thursday morning and “knows she’s back” at the site of her May conquest, according to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

“She looked good out there, she loves the track,” Baffert said. “She gets along over it really well.”

Plum Pretty was a record-setting winner of the Cotillion Stakes at Parx last time out Oct. 1, and the 3yo filly will have to repeat that effort in order to conquer a field that includes older fillies and mares.

“Her last race in the Cotillion was pretty impressive and she’s going to have to run that race back to win this race,” Baffert said. “The Kentucky Oaks was a long time ago, but if she can repeat the race she ran last time, she’ll have a very good chance.”

As far as strategy is concerned, as with most of Baffert’s runners, there’s only one plan for jockey Rafael Bejarano – send to the front and hope to stay there.

“She needs to get out there and roll,” Baffert said. “I know there are some speed horses in there, but we’re going to have to send her away from there, put her on the lead, just go for it, and see how far she can take them.”

A seasonal championship in her division is on the line for Plum Pretty, not to mention the Ladies’ Classic purse of $2 million.

“I actually had to sort of talk him into coming here,” Baffert said of owner John Fort of Peachtree Stable. “He’d never run a horse in the Breeders’ Cup. I said, ‘Well, she’s doing really well,’ and I just thought there’s a lot at stake here if she wins, not only a lot of money, but championship honors as well.”


Royal Delta – Trainer Bill Mott peered down his Churchill Downs shedrow Thursday and got a glimpse of Royal Delta holding her head perfectly still as she stared  out into the morning rain.

“Look at her. She’s sharp, isn’t she?” Mott said. “You watch and see them like that. She’s ready.”

Royal Delta could help Mott make a little personal history on Friday if the 3yo daughter of Empire Maker can win the Ladies’ Classic.

Following last year’s victory with Unrivaled Belle, Mott joined Shug McGaughey and Ron McAnally with three victories in the event (previously known as the Distaff). One more triumph would tie him with D. Wayne Lukas for the all-time lead.

“I think she’s got to be considered one of the favorites,” said Mott, who realizes there are more significant implications with the likes of It’s Tricky and Plum Pretty also in this field. “And I think it (the race) could possibly determine the 3-year-old filly championship.”


Super Espresso – Trainer Todd Pletcher admitted that the 4yo daughter of Medaglia d’Oro would be something of a surprise should she prevail in the Ladies’ Classic.

“It’s a tough race, and we’re taking a little bit of a shot,” Pletcher said. “But she seems to be in good form and doing well and she’s happy. I would say she’s probably our longest shot of the two days.”

Her last four starts have all come in top-level stakes, but her best finish was a second behind Ladies’ Classic contender Ask the Moon in the Ruffian Handicap.

Pletcher said the filly galloped 1 1/4m on the main track Thursday morning.


Ultra Blend – “She’s ready to roll,” was trainer Art Sherman’s comment after watching his 5yo mare put in her final serious exercise for Friday’s race. “She galloped 1 1/2m this morning and she went really well.”

The filly will go to the track Friday morning to jog.

“She earned her way to the big arena,” Sherman said. “It’s time to try the big girls. If she finishes 1-2-3 in this race, it will help her a lot in the sale.”

Ultra Blend will enter the Fasig-Tipton sale next week.