Nearly four dozen horses preparing for the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup at Del Mar breezed across the country Oct. 25, including 2024 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Sierra Leone .
Sierra Leone, bidding to become only the second Breeders' Cup Classic repeat winner after Tiznow's consecutive victories in 2000-01, worked a half-mile Saturday over the Oklahoma Training Track at Saratoga Race Course in :48.74 with a stablemate, the maiden Duration. Clockers timed the Chad Brown trainee galloping out with energy.
Brown called the work "exceptional."
"He's doing great, and this work was as good or better than he's worked all year," he continued. "He's coming into the race like last year—very well—and he's been working great over the past few weeks. I didn't think it was possible to build off the last two works, but he somehow managed to even work a touch better today. He's really in good form."
Peter Brant's Contrary Thinking, who has served as a "rabbit," or pacemaker, for Sierra Leone in his last two starts, also breezed, clocking a half-mile at Belmont Park over the training track there in :49.77 for Brown. He also has been pre-entered in the Nov. 1 Classic. If he is made a final entry Oct. 27, his participation could depend on whether California stewards enforce California Horse Racing Board Rule 1692, which states in part that each horse starting must be "entered with the intention to win."
Brown also breezed Amo Racing USA's Hill Road and Klaravich Stables' Redistricting at Belmont Park toward starts in the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T). They were timed in :49.66, and :50.50, respectively. Official clockers in New York and Florida time horses in hundredths of a second, compared to their counterparts across the country, who time in fifths of a second.
Sierra Leone, a 4-year-old son of Gun Runner owned by Brant, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, and Brook Smith, is one of up to 10 horses expected to be entered Monday morning for the Classic before post positions are drawn in the afternoon. The two horses immediately behind him in last year's Classic, runner-up Fierceness and third-place Forever Young, are also expected back for return appearances—though none of the three is the anticipated favorite. Godolphin's Kentucky Derby (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1), and Travers Stakes (G1) winner Sovereignty is the likely public choice.
The latter, already on site at Del Mar, had a spirited gallop Saturday for trainer Bill Mott.
"He is good. He was a little anxious the first day or two (after arriving from Saratoga), wanting to get to the track," Mott said. "They get a little anxious early in the morning, wanting to go. Other than that, he is fine, and he's doing good around the barn. He will work Sunday or Monday. He was a little stronger today. He was pretty strong the second time by. He probably needed one of those."
The Japanese-based Forever Young has also arrived at Del Mar and cantered Saturday over the local surface.
Most of the American-trained Breeders' Cup horses are not yet on the Del Mar grounds. Of those who have arrived, five posted workouts Saturday, among them Ag Bullet, a contender for the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T). Third in last year's Turf Sprint, she went a half-mile in :50 3/5 over the Del Mar turf course under the oversight of trainer Richard Baltas.
Ward Top Guns Post Final Breeders' Cup Works on Keeneland Turf
Wesley Ward heads to Del Mar with a pair of highly regarded youngsters in Schwarzenegger and Outfielder for the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), respectively. The 2-year-old colts turned in their final breezes ahead of the World Championships Saturday morning on the Keeneland turf course.
Impressive Indian Summer Stakes winner Schwarzenegger was the first of the brigade of Ward turf workers, clocking a half-mile in :52 1/5 under jockey Walter Rodriguez, who often exercises horses for Ward. A $950,000 yearling purchase from Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale last summer, Schwarzenegger ran second on debut at Saratoga Race Course before cruising to a front-running score in Keeneland's Indian Summer Stakes Oct. 5. The Not This Time colt stopped the timer in a stakes-record time of 1:02.28 for the 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf.
Ward said that with the cones set well out in the turf course, meant to preserve the most used portion of the course from divots, times weren't a huge concern for him with the morning's breezes.
"I'm really looking to see how they're moving," Ward said. "And (Schwarzenegger) went good. Today (Walter) kind of gave him his head and he went effortlessly and fluidly down the lane, which was nice to see."
Video
Ward will be chasing his fourth Juvenile Turf Sprint win with Schwarzenegger. Outfielder, also pre-entered in the race, has first preference in the one-mile Juvenile Turf.
Outfielder, part-owned by Ward with Amo Racing and Jayson Werth, scratched out of Saturday's $250,000 Bowman Mill Stakes in favor of a Breeders' Cup bid. The $850,000 son of Speightstown breezed 5 furlongs in company over the turf with 3-year-old Monterey Bay in 1:00 2/5. Hall of Famer John Velazquez, the rider of Outfielder in his two United States races, was aboard for the work.
"I told Johnny, 'Look, he's kind of a lazy horse (in the mornings),'" Ward said. "He's a big kind of colt. You wouldn't notice that in his races because with all of the other horses, he gets fired up in the gate and comes out of there running. But in the mornings, he's a real easy-going guy. I wanted to get him behind another horse (Monterey Bay) and start that horse in front so he'd have something to look at. He kind of ran down a very good 3-year-old colt today that I have for one of the undercard races on Breeders' Cup day. He worked really good. I was very happy with him."
Outfielder graduated in dominating fashion in a 5-furlong turf maiden special weight at Churchill Downs in May before venturing overseas for the Prix Morny (G1) in France. Fourth in the 1,200-meter (about 6-furlong) Prix Morny, he returned stateside to capture his dirt debut by 2 lengths in a Keeneland allowance contest Oct. 4. He has never raced beyond 6 furlongs in his three-start career.
"We're going to stretch him out to a mile (for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf)," Ward said. "Of the two I have, I felt Schwarzenegger was my best chance going five-eighths. He's very fast and of course, (at Del Mar) the turf plays fast."
Both colts, in addition to recent Nearctic Stakes (G2T) victor No Nay Hudson, who breezed 5 furlongs in 1:02 4/5 on the turf course, will depart for Del Mar Monday. Third on the alternate list after the Oct. 24 withdrawal of Nobals, No Nay Hudson will ship to California on the outside looking in for a spot in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T).
The following pre-entered horses breezed Saturday:
| Horse | Track | Distance | Time | Division |
| Ag Bullet | Del Mar | 4F (Turf-Firm) | :50 3/5 | Turf Sprint |
| Baeza | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:01 3/5 | Classic |
| Bear River | Churchill Downs | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :48 1/5 | Turf Sprint |
| Bentornato | Keeneland | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :49 2/5 | Sprint |
| Big City Lights | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | :58 | Sprint |
| Bottle of Rouge | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:00 1/5 | Juvenile Fillies |
| Chancer McPatrick | Saratoga Training Track | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :48.84* | Dirt Mile |
| Citizen Bull | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | :58 4/5 | Dirt Mile |
| Clicquot | Churchill Downs | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :48 | Distaff |
| Cy Fair | Saratoga Training Track | 3F (Dirt-Fast) | :38* | Juvenile Turf Sprint |
| Comport | Churchill Downs | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:00 1/5 | Sprint |
| Contrary Thinking | Belmont Training Track | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :49.77* | Classic |
| Dr. Venkman | Santa Anita Park | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :48 | Sprint/Dirt Mile |
| Formidable Man | Del Mar | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:00 1/5 | Mile |
| Full Serrano | Santa Anita Park | 6F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:11 4/5 | Dirt Mile |
| Gold Phoenix | Santa Anita Park | 5F (AW-Fast) | 1:01 | Turf |
| Gran Oriente | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | :59 4/5 | Mile |
| Heeere's Johnny | Belmont Park Training Track | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :48.42* | Juvenile Turf |
| Hill Road | Belmont Training Track | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :49.66* | Turf |
| Johannes | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:00 2/5 | Mile |
| Later Than Planned | Santa Anita Park | 4F (AW-Fast) | :49 2/5 | Juvenile Turf Sprint |
| La Wally | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:01 4/5 | Juvenile Fillies |
| Let's Be Frank | Churchill Downs | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :49 4/5 | Juvenile Turf |
| Litmus Test | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:00 1/5 | Juvenile |
| Lovesick Blues | Santa Anita Park | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :49 4/5 | Sprint |
| Mission of Joy | Santa Anita Park | 5F (AW-Fast) | 1:00 1/5 | Filly & Mare Turf |
| Nevada Beach | Santa Anita Park | 6F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:12 1/5 | Classic |
| No Nay Hudson | Keeneland | 5F (Turf-Firm) | 1:02 4/5 | Turf Sprint |
| Nysos | Santa Anita Park | 6F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:11 | Dirt Mile |
| Outfielder | Keeneland | 5F (Turf-Firm) | 1:00 2/5 | Juvenile Turf |
| Praying | Keeneland | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :48 1/5 | Filly & Mare Sprint |
| Program Trading | Keeneland | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :49 2/5 | Mile |
| Redistricting | Belmont Training Track | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :50.50* | Turf |
| Reef Runner | Santa Anita Park | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :46 4/5 | Turf Sprint |
| Scottish Lassie | Belmont Park Training Track | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:01* | Distaff |
| Seismic Beauty | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | :59 1/5 | Distaff/td> |
| Sierra Leone | Saratoga Training Track | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :48.74* | Classic |
| Schwarzenegger | Keeneland | 4F (Turf-Firm) | :52 1/5 | Juvenile Turf Sprint |
| Splendora | Santa Anita Park | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :47 2/5 | Filly & Mare Sprint |
| Stellify | Churchill Downs | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :49 1/5 | Filly & Mare Turf |
| Sweet Azteca | Del Mar | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | :59 4/5 | Filly & Mare Sprint |
| Tamara | Santa Anita Park | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | 1:00 3/5 | Filly & Mare Sprint |
| Touch of Destiny | Del Mar | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | :59 1/5 | Dirt Mile |
| Tumbarumba | Churchill Downs | 5F (Dirt-Fast) | :59 1/5 | Dirt Mile |
| Village Voice | Saratoga Training Track | 5F (Turf-Firm) | 1:01.79* | Filly & Mare Turf |
| Yellow Card | Del Mar | 4F (Dirt-Fast) | :48 1/5 | Turf Sprint |
*Note: Clockers in Florida and New York time in hundredths of a second. Other times are listed in fifths.
