BREEDER' CUP PREP: MANDELLA HAS HIGH HOPES WITH PERFECTLY PERFECT'S VICTORY, TRAINER LIKES BREEDERS' CUP OUTLOOK.Byline: Kevin Modesti Staff Writer ARCADIA - For the second year in a row, Pleasantly Perfect Pleasantly Perfect (born April 2, 1998 in Lexington, Kentucky) is a Thoroughbred racehorse who retired as the fourth richest American horse in career earnings. A son of Pleasant Colony, winner of the 1981 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, he was out of the mare Regal State who has won the Goodwood Handicap
The Goodwood Handicap is a Group 1 Australian thoroughbred open handicap horse race, run over a distance of 1200 metres at Morphettville at Santa Anita Santa Anita may refer to:
The difference is that this time the big 5-year-old should get a chance to prove his Hall of Fame trainer correct. Pleasantly Perfect's half-length victory over Fleetstreet Dancer in the $500,000 Goodwood on Saturday, product of Mandella's heavy-duty training and Alex Solis' heads-up ride, sends the horse on to the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 25 as the top locally prepped contender. The Goodwood was the main event on an afternoon when jockey Julie Krone won five races. ``I like mine,'' Mandella said when he was asked to size up the likely runners in the Classic, weakened in the past week by the retirements of Empire Maker and Mineshaft mine·shaft n. A vertical or sloping passageway made in the earth for finding or mining ore and ventilating underground excavations. Noun 1. . Mandella felt the same way a year ago after Pleasantly Perfect and Solis won the Goodwood by 3 1/4 lengths over Momentum to put himself on edge for the 2002 Breeders' Cup at Arlington Park near Chicago. But Pleasantly Perfect was found to have bled from a nostril nostril /nos·tril/ (nos´tril) either of the nares. nos·tril n. A naris. nostril either of the two apertures (nares) of the nose that lead into the nasal cavity. after the Goodwood, and because it was his second bout with pulmonary bleeding within a year, Illinois rules barred him from racing in that state for a month. ``I never had a complaint about the rule,'' Mandella said beside the Santa Anita winner's circle Saturday. ``The only complaint I had was the difference in the rules, one state to another. We could have run here. We couldn't run there. ``The problem was I almost had him on a plane (to) Chicago before I found out that the rule there said he couldn't run.'' Mandella can only guess how well Pleasantly Perfect might have done in the 2002 Classic, won by 43-1 Volponi. When the son of 1981 Kentucky Derby winner Pleasant Colony tries to make up for the lost opportunity in this year's Classic, he'll race for only the second time since March and the 13th time in a 2 1/2-year career. He came out of a fourth-place finish behind Milwaukee Brew in the Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the late winter at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses three years old and up, and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during with stiffness and soreness that interrupted his spring and summer training. Mandella had to work Pleasantly Perfect hard on recent mornings. ``So I had to have him good and ready today, otherwise (the Goodwood) would have knocked him out,'' Mandella said, ``and then he comes up empty on Classic day.'' Pleasantly Perfect (who was favored and paid $4.80) was far back in the eight-horse field, led at a dawdling pace by long shots Taste of Paradise and Star Cross, before Solis sent him forward on the outside. They got the lead between horses in the last 100 yards. The 1 1/8 miles was completed in a slow 1:48.37. ``I've got to give the credit to Alex,'' Mandella said. ``He sensed (the slow pace) as they went down the backstretch back·stretch n. The part of an oval racecourse farthest from the spectators and opposite the homestretch. and moved him right up into contention. He never would have caught 'em if he'd have just let him drift back.'' Fleetstreet Dancer finished second, Star Cross third. Hollywood Futurity winner Toccet, moved from Maryland to Santa Anita a month ago to get ready for this race, beat only Grey Memo. Mandella, who will prep Siphonizer for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. in today's Norfolk Stakes, also has Halfbridled for the Juvenile Fillies, Johar and The Tin Man for the Turf and Medecis for the Mile. He's looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a Breeders' Cup day as good as his two-winner showing at Santa Anita in 1993. Pleasantly Perfect strengthened his hand Saturday. In the afternoon's other stakes, the $150,000 Oak Tree Derby The Oak Tree Derby is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Santa Anita Park during the Oak Tree Racing Association meet each year. The Grade IIT event is open to three-year-old horses willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the turf and offers a purse of $150,000. , Krone rode Devious Boy to victory in a three-way photo finish. Kevin Modesti, (818) 713-3616 kevin.modesti(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Perfectly Perfect and Alex Solis, right, pull ahead of Fleetstreet Dancer to win the Goodwood Handicap. Benoit Photo/Associated Press Box: ON THE TRACK |
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