Arthur's Ride and Mixto put in their final works Oct. 27 at Del Mar, ahead of the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 2.
The Bill-Mott trained Arthur's Ride worked four furlongs in :49 under assistant trainer Neil Poznansky. The Tapit colt who won the Whitney Stakes (G1) Aug. 3, is coming off a flat fifth-place finish in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) Sept. 1 at Saratoga Race Course.
"He can be very lazy by himself," said Mott. "Usually, if we want a good work, we will work him in company. When he is by himself, he is not going to do any more than you ask him to do. He finished up nicely and galloped out good. We will see how he is behaving tomorrow and decide whether we will take him to the track."
Mixto put in a solid work for trainer Doug O'Neill, going five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 under jockey Kyle Frey. The Pacific Classic (G1) winner will walk Oct. 28.
"I thought he worked well and with the Breeders' Cup here it made more sense to have his final work at Del Mar instead of Santa Anita," said O'Neill. "It was a really good morning for all of my horses."
Katonah and Raging Torrent were among O'Neill's 27 workers Sunday morning. Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) contender Katonah worked five furlongs in 1:01, and Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) contender Raging Torrent went five furlongs in 1:02 2/5. Antonio Fresu will have the mount on Raging Torrent; with Frankie Dettori set to ride Katonah.
Four horses pre-entered in the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar Nov. 1-2 worked Oct. 27 at Santa Anita Park including Newgate , a leading contender for the $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic.
Trained by Bob Baffert, Newgate fired a bullet when going five furlongs in a swift :58 4/5. Sharing the bullet with Newgate for the fastest work at five furlongs was Full Serrano, a contender for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, who also went in :58 4/5 for trainer John Sadler.
Newgate, a 4-year-old Into Mischief colt, will be making his second start following a six-month layoff in the 1 1/4-mile Classic. After winning the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) in March, Newgate shipped to the Middle East and finished last in the March 30 Dubai World Cup (G1) at Meydan. He didn't resurface until running third in the California Crown (G1) at Santa Anita Sept. 28.
In the 1 1/8-mile California Crown, Newgate with John Velazquez up had just one horse beat after six furlongs. He then mounted a bold four-wide move into the stretch that propelled him into a three-way photo finish with winner Subsanador and runner-up National Treasure . Newgate was officially beaten a head and another nose for it all.
Full Serrano most recently was second by a half-length to Classic contender Mixto in the Pacific Classic going 1 1/4 miles Aug. 31 at Del Mar. Imported from Argentina this year, the Pacific Classic was just the second U.S. start for Full Serrano, a 5-year-old Full Mast horse owned by Hronis Racing.
Working for trainer Dan Blacker was Straight No Chaser, a top contender for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint at six furlongs. Straight No Chaser worked four furlongs in :47 1/5.
A 5-year-old horse by Speightster, Straight No Chaser is exiting a scintillating 6 1/2-length win in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2) going six furlongs Sept. 29. It was his first start following a 4 1/2-month layoff. Owned by My Racehorse, Straight No Chaser is 5-0-1 from nine starts with $376,300 in earnings.
Rounding out the Breeders' Cup workers was Cabo Spirit, who is on the also-eligible list for the $5 million Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) but is expected to get in. Upset winner of the John Henry Turf Championship (G2T) Sept. 28, Cabo Spirit worked five furlongs in :59 4/5 for trainer George Papaprodromou.
International Flavor
The remaining European challengers for this year's Breeders' Cup World Championships arrived in the international quarantine barn shortly after 7:30 p.m. PT Oct. 26.
Connections reported their horses to have shipped well.
Aidan O'Brien's horses were the first to arrive in Del Mar, shortly followed by the remaining horses.
Many of the European horses used the weighing scales in quarantine with the results being positive with only slight weight loss during travel.
The European horses will remain in quarantine until Monday afternoon and expected to be on the track Tuesday.
Frost At Dawn (Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint - G1) was the first international horse on the main track in her usual spot just after 6 a.m.
Soprano (Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf - G1T) was due to work on the turf Saturday morning but that was cancelled because of fog. However, she was able to work on the turf Sunday morning and was clocked in :39 3/5 for three furlongs over firm going.
Charles Eddery was in the saddle and was very happy with the workout.
"Soprano has done everything right since landing in Del Mar," Eddery said. "We were hoping to go on the turf yesterday but unfortunately the mist meant we had to wait until today. She felt in good shape this morning and I'm very happy with her."
Eddery is the nephew of Pat Eddery, who won the Turf with Pebbles and Sprint with Sheikh Albadou.
Owners and trainers will start arriving in Del Mar after the weekend with O'Brien scheduled to land Monday evening ahead of overseeing his immense team Tuesday morning.
Not a Bridge Too Far
Leslie Sarf attended a horse race for the first time as a little girl at Aqueduct Racetrack and was immediately taken by the breathtaking speed and whirlwind of color as jockey silks flashed before her eyes.
The marriage of fleet-footed Thoroughbreds with pallets of earthy neutrals and bright vivids inspired Sarf to paint the scenes that unfolded before her on afternoons with her father at New York's racetracks.
"I had no interest except that I liked to paint and it was beautiful to paint," Sarf said. "It grew on me as a child, and it became a hobby. I had some exhibits in the south at Aiken (South Carolina) and sold some paintings to Chris Antley years ago. I came to love the sport."
Flash forward to 2024, and no colors shine brighter in Sarf's eyes than the blue and gold silks of her and her husband's LSU Stables, which were carried to two grade 1 victories this year by their star turf router Far Bridge. Now, the Christophe Clement-trained 4-year-old son of English Channel looks to follow in the footsteps of his father in taking the Breeders' Cup Turf.
LSU Stables is the moniker of Leslie and her husband, Larry, also a lifelong fan of racing. The two immediately bonded over their love of racing and went on their first date at Belmont Park in 1967. While their meeting seemed as if it were fate, so did their private procurement of Far Bridge in early 2023 after the colt went 2-for-2 at Gulfstream Park to start his career.
"I suggested to my husband to go on our first date to Belmont," Leslie Sarf said, with a laugh. "From there, I became a tournament bridge player, and when my husband was looking at this horse and told me the name, it was meant to be."
Serendipitous it was as Far Bridge immediately rewarded his owners handsomely for their investment, moving to the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher to finish a close second in two graded events before a breakthrough score in the Belmont Derby Invitational (GT1) at Belmont Park.
Far Bridge leads the charge for the American-based contenders in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders' Cup Turf, entering off grade 1 wins going a mile and a half in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1T) Sept. 28 at Aqueduct, and the Sword Dancer (G1T) Aug. 24 at Saratoga Race Course, making him the highest-earning horse LSU Stables has campaigned with more than $1.7 million in the bank.
For Sarf, nothing means more to her than the ways in which Far Bridge has brought their family together on the world's biggest stage for horse racing, where she and Larry will be joined by their son Randy, among others.
"We're excited, nervous, amazed, that this would ever happen to us. It was always just for fun, and if we did well, we did well," Sarf said. "It has been a dream come true just to get to the Breeders' Cup and all our grandchildren are coming down. We're nervous for the draw on Monday night and hope he gets a good post position, but que sera, sera. We're grateful to be there and we're walking on air, no matter what happens."
Figure of Speech
In 2022, a Charlie Appleby-trained, William Buick-ridden chestnut European classic-winning homebred 3-year-old Dubawi colt came into the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) as the favorite and delivered in a big way for the Godolphin blue of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Internationally rated 122, Modern Games was sandwiched by two other Mile-winning homebred, Appleby-trained sons of Dubawi: Space Blues (IRE) (2021) and Master of The Seas (2023).
Enter Notable Speech, who checks all the same boxes, yet something seems is a bit different about the collective connections' chances to seal up a historic Mile grand slam. Elevated is perhaps the word--in equal parts excitement and expectation.
The eye-catching winner of the Two Thousand Guineas (G1) and Sussex Stakes (G1) enters the 2024 Mile rated 122, as well, but while Modern Games was long considered second or third string in the yard at the time, Notable Speech is an imperious number one and has his champion trainer's 50 percent World Championships (10-for-20) strike rate salivating.
"If he ticks all the boxes this week and gets a good draw, he's going to be dangerous," Appleby said. "That's a word that I use and that's a word that's been documented, but I can't get away from it. He's a Guineas winner, he's a Sussex winner and he's probably one of the most high-profile horses to ever turn up at a Breeders' Cup Mile in what he's achieved in his 3-year-old career. He deserves to be favorite, in my opinion, and has produced a tremendous turn-of-foot in his Group 1 wins.
"He's traveled well today to California, so the next few hours will be crucial to see how he's adapted to it all," Appleby continued. "I'm pleased with his training. He had a racecourse gallop last week and I was delighted with it. He came out in good order and then on Thursday, he worked really well before he jumped on the plane. If you have a good draw, you ideally want a nice run around there and to be able to pounce. He travels so well in his races and we've always had this in the back of our minds that the Breeders' Cup would suit him."
If Notable Speech does take the spoils, it will not only be unprecedented from training, breeding and collective connections' standpoints, but would have been done against one of the most potent fields in recent memory. Eight grade or group 1 winners from three continents are stacked against the five-time winner from seven starts.
Furthermore, the four-peat by Appleby would become the first of its kind. Three has been the magic number with consecutive victories. Chad Brown has won three consecutive editions of the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), Peter Miller won three Turf Sprints (G1), Bob Baffert won three Classics, Bill Mott won three Distaffs (G1), Freddy Head won three Miles as a trainer (with Goldikova), and D. Wayne Lukas has won three consecutive Distaffs and Juveniles.
Alas, Appleby would rather focus on the task, and horse, at hand.
"What more can I say about him," he concluded. "He's one of the top horses going into the meeting. Give this horse a good week and he's the horse they've all got to beat."
The post position draw for the 41st Breeders' Cup is Oct. 28 starting at 4 p.m. PT. It will be broadcast live on FanDuel TV.
| Horse | Track | Distance | Time | Division |
| Ag Bullet | Del Mar (Turf) | 4F | :49 4/5 | Turf Sprint |
| Al Qudra (IRE) | Keeneland (Turf) | 4F | :51 3/5 | Juvenile Turf |
| Arthur's Ride | Del Mar | 4F | :49 | Classic |
| Beautiful Love (IRE) | Keeneland (Turf) | 4F | :51 3/5 | Filly and Mare Turf |
| Cabo Spirit | Santa Anita Park | 5F | :59 4/5 | Turf |
| Cinderella's Dream | Keeneland (Turf) | 4F | :51 1/5 | Filly and Mare Turf |
| Didia (ARG) | Del Mar | 4F | :50 4/5 | Filly and Mare Turf |
| Full Serrano (ARG) | Santa Anita Park | 5F | :58 4/5 | Dirt Mile |
| Geoglyph (JPN) | Del Mar (Turf) | 5F | 1:07 2/5 | Mile |
| Katonah | Del Mar | 5F | 1:01 | Dirt Mile |
| Meta Max | Del Mar | 4F | :51 4/5 | Sprint |
| Mixto | Del Mar | 5F | 1:00 2/5 | Classic |
| Mufasa (CHI) | Del Mar | 4F | :47 4/5 | Sprint |
| Newgate | Santa Anita Park | 5F | :58 4/5 | Classic |
| Out On Bail | Churchill Downs | 3F | :36 1/5 | Juvenile Turf Sprint |
| Pali Kitten | Del Mar | 4F | :49 4/5 | Juvenile Turf Sprint |
| Raging Torrent | Del Mar | 5F | 1:02 2/5 | Sprint |
| Scylla | Del Mar | 4F | :50 4/5 | Filly and Mare Sprint |
| Scythian | Del Mar (Turf) | 4F | :49 2/5 | Juvenile Fillies Turf |
| Skelly | Del Mar | 3F | :38 4/5 | Sprint |
| Society | Del Mar | 3F | :36 2/5 | Filly and Mare Sprint |
| Soprano (IRE) | Del Mar (Turf) | 3F | :39 3/5 | Filly and Mare Turf |
| Star of Mystery (GB) | Keeneland (Turf) | 4F | :51.80 | Turf Sprint |
| Straight No Chaser | Santa Anita Park | 4F | :47 1/5 | Sprint |
| War Like Goddess | Del Mar | 4F | :48 3/5 | Filly and Mare Turf |
| Zeitlos | Del Mar | 3F | :36 4/5 | Filly and Mare Sprint |
