Joey Peacock Jr.'s Senor Buscador , pre-entered in the Nov. 5 Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), breezed five furlongs in 1:01 Oct. 27 over a fast track at Keeneland in company with stakes-winning stablemate Sheriff Brown for trainer Todd Fincher.
Jockey Francisco Arrieta was aboard Senor Buscador and Florent Geroux partnered Peacock Family Holdings' Sheriff Brown, his mount in the $350,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes (G2) on the Nov. 4 Future Stars Friday undercard at Keeneland.
"It was a good solid work, and we got what we wanted," Fincher said. "Senor Buscador started about six lengths back and got to the target a little faster and caught up by the three-eighths. He waited a bit not wanting to go by too fast and really started working at the quarter pole."
Senor Buscador finished three lengths in front of his workmate.
"I'm just guessing he went in :34 and change from the eighth pole to the three-quarters," Fincher said. "Sheriff Brown is better with a target, but he was the hunted today."
Fincher also trains Slammed, winner of the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) and pre-entered in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). The Brad King, Stan Kirby, Suzanne Kirby, and Barbara Coleman-trained filly is scheduled to work Oct. 28, when Breeders' Cup workout action is expected to pick up. Oct. 29 is likely to be the busiest day for Breeders' Cup workouts between now and the two-day event.
In other workouts Friday at Keeneland, Michael Dubb and Michael Caruso's Hot Peppers, pre-entered in the Filly & Mare Sprint, worked five furlongs on her own in 1:02 1/5. With exercise rider Efrain Lopez aboard, Hot Peppers produced fractions of :12 3/4, :24 4/5, :38, and 1:02 1/5 and out six furlongs in 1:16. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez is scheduled to be at Keeneland Oct. 31.
Hunter Valley Farm, Debra O'Connor, and Marc Detampel's Family Way, pre-entered in the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T), worked five furlongs on the main track in 1:00 4/5 for trainer Brendan Walsh. The move was the fastest of seven at the distance this morning.
| Horse | Track | Distance | Time | Division |
| Family Way | Keeneland | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:00 4/5 | Filly & Mare Turf |
| Hot Peppers | Keeneland | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:02 1/5 | Filly & Mare Sprint |
| Leave No Trace | Belmont Park Training Track | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :46.47 | Juvenile Fillies |
| Sabra Tuff | Churchill Downs | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :48 3/5 | Juvenile Fillies |
| Senor Buscador | Keeneland | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:01 | Dirt Mile |
Olympiad Can State Horse of the Year Case in Classic
Most of the talk about Horse of the Year centers on the long-awaited clash between the undefeated Flightline and Life Is Good in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).
If one of them prevails in the 1 1/4-mile test then the connections of the winner can begin working on their acceptance speech at the Eclipse Awards.
Of course, should there be an upset in the Classic, there are several different scenarios for someone else to walk away with the sport's biggest award.
One of them centers around Olympiad . If the 4-year-old son of Speightstown wins the Nov. 5 Classic at Keeneland, it would be proof positive that he deserves to be Horse of the Year.
Aside from the possibility of a victory in the $6 million Classic that would give him a win over both Flightline and Life Is Good in the year's most star-studded stakes. Olympiad has been practically perfect this year for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Bought for $700,000 by Solis/Litt from the Gainesway consignment at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, he has won six of his seven 2022 starts, capped by a victory in the Sept. 3 1 1/4-mile Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) for his initial grade 1 score.
"Historically that's pretty much the way it goes in a year like this, with the winner of the Classic being Horse of the Year," said Robert Clay of Grandview Equine, which owns Olympiad along with Everett Dobson's Cheyenne Stable and the Roth family's LNJ Foxwoods. "But we're just taking it one race at a time. Flightline certainly catches a lot of attention and he may be the best horse we've seen in a while, but it's still a horse race."
One of nine horses pre-entered in the Classic, Olympiad reentered the Horse of the Year picture in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, a race that was never on Olympiad's itinerary until he suffered his lone loss of the year. The colt bred by Emory A. Hamilton out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Tokyo Time had faced a defining moment earlier in the Saratoga Race Course meet when he took on Life Is Good in the Whitney Stakes (G1) off a string of four straight stakes wins, three in grade 2 stakes.
He was sent off as the 9-5 second choice in the Whitney, but had no impact on the outcome, finishing a disappointing fourth, 9 1/4 lengths behind Life Is Good.
The loss was a head-scratcher for Mott, who to this day cannot find a compelling reason for it other than a wet track that was labeled "good" and the muggy, humid conditions.
"He's had a very good year. The only downfall was the Whitney and the dull race was unexplainable except that it was a hot, humid day," said Mott, a two-time Classic winner. "Probably one of the hottest days (at Saratoga). He seemed a little dull and that's the only excuse I can give him. He was getting the trip he needed early in the race and just didn't fire."
Once Olympiad showed his usual vim and vigor a week after the Whitney, Mott steered Olympiad to the 10-furlong Jockey Club Gold Cup, which wound up removing an important question mark before the Classic. While a strong showing in the Whitney most likely would have led to a final prep in the 1 1/8-mile Woodward Stakes (G1)—a path Life Is Good followed—by running in the Jockey Club Gold Cup and racing beyond nine furlongs for the first time, his two-length victory showed that the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Classic will not be beyond his scope.
"He's proven he'll get the mile and a quarter and he'll have to be good (at the Breeders' Cup) because it's a very competitive Classic," Mott said. "It's a great spectator race. Being a racing fan and someone who loves to watch really good horses, I'm anxious to see the race and glad to be in it."
Most of the intrigue about the Classic involves the early pace, with Flightline and Life Is Good expected to flash their blazing speed in a memorable duel. Yet Olympiad should not be far removed from that scene. The $2 million earner also has keen early speed, typically running a length or two behind in the top three through the early furlongs, and Clay expects a similar showing in the Classic.
"His races have been pretty consistent except for the Whitney. He's always been just off the lead, but he has tactical speed and he can be close enough," Clay said. "I suspect we'll run the same type of race in the Breeders' Cup. It all depends on fast they go. We'll be behind them, but not too far."
While Clay said future plans for the winner of eight of 12 career starts would not be made until after the Breeders' Cup, the Oct. 24 announcement that Olympiad will ultimately stand at Gainesway Farm as a stallion is the kind of news that generally starts the clock ticking on the end of a successful runner's racing career. Yet before that happens, the Classic, which is being painted as a test of greatness for the favored Flightline, could also provide a very telling statement about just how good and talented Olympiad has become despite the obstacle of being sidelined for a full year between his 2- and 3-year-old campaigns.
"Our horse is doing well and training well at Saratoga. He's a real professional. He has it all. He'll make a great stallion but it's hard to see a horse like this leave the racetrack. It's a hard decision to make, but the Classic should be a great horse race," Clay said. "If Flightline is as good as we think he is, nobody is going to beat him. But everyone has to run and you never know what can happen in a horse race."
Cody's Wish Pursues First Two-Turn Win in BC Dirt Mile
For a horse with a 5-for-5 record at a mile, Godolphin's Cody's Wish surprisingly has a question to answer in the Nov. 5 Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Keeneland. Can he be successful under the two-turn conditions of the race?
All five of his mile starts have come around one turn, either at Churchill Downs or Belmont Park, tracks that due to the length of their backstretches and backstretch chutes can accommodate such races. Keeneland has a backstretch chute, but it is not long enough to run a mile, with its maximum sprint distance being seven furlongs and 184 feet over what it calls the Beard Course.
"It's a different type of race for him. Maybe we could add some dirt on the end of that chute at Keeneland and stretch it out to a one-turn mile," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott quipped in a conference call with reporters Oct. 26.
Instead, Cody's Wish will have to deal with a short run to the first turn, which is likely to result in a scramble for positioning for many of the competitors, and a short stretch after leaving the second turn. Mile races end at Keeneland, a track 1 1/16 miles in circumference, at what is typically the sixteenth pole.
"The two turns add a little bit of a challenge to it. Frankly, I would probably prefer the (one-turn) mile," Mott said. "He's a big horse, and I think the one mile and the long straightaway down the backside probably gives him a chance to probably get into his stride a little better, a little more time, rather than having to negotiate that first turn."
Cody's Wish is bred to handle a route, being by Curlin out of the grade 1 stakes-winning Tapit mare Dance Card, but he could only muster minor awards in two prior starts around turn turns, both over longer trips. He was third in a 1 1/8-mile maiden race at Saratoga Race Course in July 2021, and second, beaten a neck by Scalding, in the 1 1/16-mile $100,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs March 12.
"As far as the two-turn race that he had at Tampa, he really had every opportunity. He had a good enough trip, but it just looked like the other horse got the best of him the last 70 yards," Mott said. "Whether that was the distance, and we know that was a two-turn race as well, but I'm happy to be shortening up to a mile."
Since the Challenger, he has rattled off three straight one-turn victories—taking the Westchester Stakes (G3) at Belmont, the Hanshin Stakes Presented by JRA at Churchill Downs, and the Forego Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. He ran down champion sprinter Jackie's Warrior in winning the latter race over seven furlongs.
The colt's high level of performance—plus the heartwarming story of the colt being named after Cody Dorman, a teenager who has a rare genetic disorder known as Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome—have made Cody's Wish a barn and fan favorite.
"Cody has sent messages before his races, and predicts how he is going to run," Mott said. "He's been pretty spot on so far. I don't know what his prediction is for the Breeders' Cup, but I hope he places him right up there."
Breeders' Cup Sees Decline in Japan's Pre-Entries
One year after a ground-breaking year for Japan-based horses in terms of support of the Breeders' Cup World Championships and success in the international event, interest has declined going into 2022.
Just one Japan-based horse, Koji Maeda's Chain of Love, is pre-entered in this year's World Championships at Keeneland. The 5-year-old daughter of Heart's Cry is pre-entered in the Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) (first preference) and the Qatar Racing Sprint (G1) (second preference).
In 2021 Breeders' Cup enjoyed a record year in terms of both support and success from Japan-based horses as eight horses were pre-entered, seven started, and two secured victories in the World Championships contested at Del Mar.
After DMM Dream Club's international standout Loves Only You triumphed in the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) and then Carrot Farm's Marche Lorraine upset rivals in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), it seemed likely that Japan runners would return in force for the 2022 World Championships.
But when it comes to international racing, each year is unique. Breeders' Cup Racing Secretaries and Directors Panel chairman Tom Robbins noted that besides the challenge every year of having horses that are a good fit, some non-racing circumstances this year may have created some higher hurdles.
"It's a little longer journey for them (to Lexington, compared with Del Mar). The West Coast might be more to their liking," Robbins said. "Obviously with the success that they had at Del Mar last year, I would presume next year at Santa Anita Park that the support might be a little bit stronger.
"I also think the value of the yen is down. So I think that has some play in this as well—things that you wouldn't expect normally."
Reuters reported Oct. 24 that efforts by Japan to halt that slide have had minimal effect. It reported that, "The widening U.S. (dollar)-Japanese rate differential is likely to keep downward pressure on the yen, which has fallen more than 20% against the dollar this year."
Overall in terms of numbers, Breeders' Cup saw a drop in international support compared with last year's record year. That decline can largely be attributed to Japan's reduced support. Last year Breeders' Cup saw a record 56 overseas entries. It was down to 45 this year.
While not every year can be a record in terms of support, Robbins believes this year's international contingent—as well as the U.S.-based entries—are a strong group. He noted that members of the international Racing Secretaries and Directors Panel were impressed.
"It was good to see some of the European handicappers promote some of the U.S. horses and vice versa—some of the U.S. racing secretaries promoted some of the European horses," Robbins said. "It's a powerful group and we're very excited."
Chain of Love certainly brings some intriguing credentials. She enters the Breeders' Cup off a narrow victory in the Enif Stakes Sept. 10 at Chukyo. That race was contested at 6.95 furlongs—nearly matching the seven-furlong Filly & Mare Turf. Trained by Michihiro Ogasa, Chain of Love has experience in international racing as she finished third against males in this year's Saudia Riyadh Dirt Sprint (G3) and fourth in this year's Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Atlantis Dubai (G1) at Meydan.
