Breeders' Cup Notebook: Golden Tempo In 'Good Order'

Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable's Golden Tempo returned to the Keeneland main track around 8:10 am Oct. 25 for a light jog the opposite way around under Enrique Miranda, assistant to trainer Cherie DeVaux. "He had good energy and loves the cold air," Miranda said. "He's in good order. He's a professional and loves what he does. He's a big man now—he has grown quite a bit. He used to be a little chubby when he first started, but he's toned up now and is very fit." Daisy Phipps Pulito of Phipps Stable also noted the son of Curlin's marked development to become a dual classic-winner of the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1). "When he first came into Cherie's barn as a 2-year-old when he shipped up from Barry Eisaman's, he kind of had a pot belly on him, but he was a horse that never did anything wrong," Phipps Pulito recalled. "If you had said, 'which horse is your superstar,' I probably wouldn't have picked him as a superstar, but he never did anything wrong and he still hasn't. He's just got a great mind, and he's a pleasure to be around. He's a really cool horse. A lot of good colts like him are high-energy, and he's really not that way. He does what he needs to do." Golden Tempo has been training up to the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Keeneland since finishing third in the Travers Stakes (G1) Aug. 29 at Saratoga Race Course. Miranda said Golden Tempo is expected to resume galloping on the main track tomorrow around the same time. Measure-d Approach A potential rising star for the barn, Gary Barber, Bridlewood Farm, and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Measure, also looked full of energy as she bounced away from the pony for her Sunday gallop. While Nitrogen should be established as one of the morning-line favorites when post positions are drawn for the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Oct. 26, trainer Mark Casse said Measure could be "a little bit of a sleeper" after several grade 1 placings over the summer. "When you look at her numbers—I'm a Thoro-Graph guy—when you look at her, she's sitting on a big one," Casse said. "She's got a good pattern, and I think there's going to be a lot of speed in the Distaff." Measure stepped into stakes company for the first time, finishing third in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga, behind Casse's multiple grade 1 winner Counting Stars and Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Always a Runner. Continuing in Saratoga's divisional series, she closed from last in a field of six, despite a tepid pace, in the Alabama Stakes (G1), missing My Gun's Loaded by a neck, with Counting Stars third. In the Cotillion Stakes (G1), Sept. 19 at Parx, the filly was third to Bodacious Bay and Always a Runner after having to wait to make her bid, getting in tight at the three-eighths pole. "She had a tough trip," Casse said. "But she seems to be getting better and better each race. I think she's better now." Immersive Experience Immersive, who is expected to be one of two Eclipse Award champions to contest the Oct. 31 Distaff, emerged from her final pre-race breeze in good order, according to Trace Messina, assistant to trainer Brad Cox. Godolphin's homebred Immersive, winner of the 2024 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) to secure a divisional championship, walked the shedrow Sunday morning at Keeneland. The same was true for Bless the Broken, a Keeneland-based stablemate who also breezed Saturday morning as she targets the Filly & Mare Turf (G1) for owners Qatar Racing, Mountmellick Farm, and Hunter Valley Farm. "They'll be back in action tomorrow," said Messina, who has deputized the past few days as Cox has overseen preparations for his Churchill Downs-based Breeders' Cup runners. European Report This year sees a huge international contingent of 60 horses on the Keeneland grounds, which includes eight Japanese horses, 23 from the United Kingdom, 24 from Ireland, four from France, and one from the United Arab Emirates. Charlie Appleby's two horses Notable Speech (GB) and El Cordobes (IRE) flew in on the Godolphin plane and arrived in quarantine at 6:15 pm Oct. 24, with the team pleased with how they traveled. Forty-seven European horses that traveled on the chartered plane started to arrive in quarantine shortly after midnight Sunday morning. Adonius (IRE) remained at Keeneland since his win here on Oct. 4 when winning the Indian Summer Stakes (G3T) and reports have been that he has trained extremely well since. He will require some scratches to get a run Oct. 30 as he is currently on the Also Eligible list. Lake Forest (GB) is another U.K. contender who remained in Keeneland having finished second in the Turf Mile Stakes (G1T) Oct. 3. The European horses will remain in quarantine until Monday evening which means we will see them out on the Keeneland tracks Oct.27. Classic Q Decision Made Casse said Sunday morning that multiple grade 1 winner Classic Q will contest the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T). She had been pre-entered in both that and the Mile (G1T), and was safely in the body of both oversubscribed races. Choosing whether to face males in the Mile, Classic Q's preferred distance, or to remain against females in a longer race was "not an easy decision," Casse said earlier this week. All three of Classic Q's graded stakes victories this year have come at a mile—the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2T), the Just a Game Stakes (G1T), and, most significantly, the First Lady Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland. The Filly and Mare Turf is contested at 1 3/16 miles. Classic Q has never run beyond 1 1/8 miles, finishing seventh in the Regret Stakes (G3T) last year. Classic Q's performance will have key implications in the chase for the Eclipse Award as North America's outstanding turf female. She is currently the only older filly or mare to have won multiple grade 1 turf races on the continent this year. Tam Tam has won a pair of grade 1 races—the Del Mar Oaks (G1T) and Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1T)—but both were restricted to 3-year-olds, and the filly will not appear at the Breeders' Cup. In the Filly and Mare Turf, Classic Q is likely to face Expensive Queen, Kathynmarissa, and Thought Process, all of whom have one grade 1 win this season coming into the Breeders' Cup. Survie, who defeated males in the Christophe Clement Turf Stakes (G1T), is pre-entered in both the Filly and Mare Turf and the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T), with the latter her first preference. In Our Time, who also owns a single grade 1 this season, is pre-entered in the Turf Sprint (G1). "She's won two grade 1s, and she's won the million-dollar race on Derby Day, and that would be important to me, for her to be champion if she could," Casse said. One Way Or Another Trainer Phil D'Amato said he is still on the fence about whether to run Iron Man Cal in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) or the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1). "He continues to train well and we are still trying to decide on the Dirt Mile or Sprint," D'Amato said. "It will be an entry day decision." Campaigned by Little Red Feather Racing and Madaket Stables, the 4-year-old Collected gelding was a neck second behind Henri Matisse in the 2024 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) at Del Mar, and campaigned exclusively on turf until this July when landing a three-length third in Del Mar's 1 1/16-mile San Diego Handicap (G2). Cutting back to 7 furlongs, he made the grade last out in the Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2). "I think he figured him out once we transferred him back to the dirt, and gelding him—those two things helped him get to where he's at now," D'Amato said. "Every time we breezed him on the dirt and with good horses, he would work as well or better than the good dirt horses I had. It (running on dirt) was always in the back of my mind, and he ran a respectable third first time out (on dirt). Then the Pat O'Brien, and here we are now." D'Amato said he was proud to see the hard-trying bay win a graded event. "Very rewarding. He's just a big, good-looking horse and all class," D'Amato said. "That showed in his ability to be effective on both surfaces. He's a really nice horse to have in the barn." Spooky Season Trainer Joe Sharp has enjoyed the journey with juvenile filly Serenas Ghost through her first two starts, including an impressive victory in the Jessamine Stakes (G2) Oct. 2 at Keeneland. Now, she will take on the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) Friday at Keeneland. The dark bay is a sentimental filly for her conditioner, who trained both of her parents—the late grade 1 Haskell Stakes-winner Girvin and the multiple stakes-winning Tiznow mare Sirenusa. Serenas Ghost is a Kentucky homebred for Barry and Joni Butzow's Moving Forward Racing. "I trained her mother and bought her as a yearling, so it's a neat story," Sharp said. "Not many people have the opportunity to have trained the mother and the father. It's unique, and she's special. "Very much the best of both of (her parents)," he added. "Both of them were very good racehorses, very tough mentally and physically, and she displays that." Serenas Ghost is a perfect 2-for-2, and enters the Juvenile Fillies Turf from her 1 1/4-length score in the Jessamine, where she stalked and pounced strongly under Luis Saez to pull off the 22-1 upset. "You can never expect to see what she did, but I was expecting a big performance, especially the way she was training when she came over to Keeneland," Sharp said. "I was really impressed with her progression and she looked like a horse that could be something, so to see her confirm that with the way she had such a gritty performance was really exciting." Sharp noted that Serenas Ghost emerged well from a half-mile work over the Turfway Park synthetic Oct. 23, and will ship to Keeneland Monday.