BREEDER PREVIEW ALREADY WRITTEN.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing horse racing, trials of speed involving two or more horses. It includes races among harnessed horses with one of two particular gaits, among saddled Thoroughbreds (or, less frequently, quarterhorses) on a flat track, or among saddled horses over a turf course with Don't tell the other horses running in major prep races the next five weekends, but the stars of the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita on Oct. 25 might already have been determined. Candy Ride stamped himself as the California hope for the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade 1 Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3 years old and older run at a distance of 1¼ miles (2012 m) on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup. when he thumped Medaglia d'Oro in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar last month. Mineshaft mine·shaft n. A vertical or sloping passageway made in the earth for finding or mining ore and ventilating underground excavations. Noun 1. confirmed he's the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of favorite for the Breeders' Cup's biggest race when he ran away with the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park last Saturday. The two horses, co-No. 1 in the official rankings of Breeders' Cup Classic contenders, are heading toward the kind of West vs. East collision that racing's ``championship'' event thrives on. Knock on wood, hoping Candy Ride's owners pay the $800,000 to make the Argentina-bred eligible for the Breeders' Cup Classic and that Mineshaft gets past his scheduled warmup in the Sept. 27 Jockey Club Gold Cup The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a prestigious thoroughbred flat race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It is typically the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers . This could turn out to be the best coastal showdown since Sunday Silence and Easy Goer had their climactic meeting in the 1989 Breeders' Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park in Florida. The excitement of such races for regional pride depends on the belief by fans of one area - or both - that their hero is being disrespected by the fans of the other. In 1989, New York fans of Belmont Stakes winner Easy Goer were convinced his class would win out once and for all. That made it all the sweeter for California fans of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Sunday Silence when he held on to win the Classic by a neck and clinch the Horse of the Year title. If Candy Ride and Mineshaft, 4-year-olds who have yet to square off, need a sign of disregard to fuel a rivalry, it might have arrived after Mineshaft and jockey Robby Albarado beat Hold That Tiger by 4 1/2 lengths in the fourth-fastest Woodward Stakes of all time. The Associated Press' New York office wrote that Mineshaft ``stamped himself as a Horse of the Year contender along with Azeri and Medaglia d'Oro.'' Apparently, news of Candy Ride's 3 1/4-length victory over Medaglia d'Oro at Del Mar on Aug. 24 - making Candy Ride championship material - has yet to cross the Mississippi. Mineshaft earned a Beyer speed figure The Beyer Speed Figure is a system for rating the performance of Thoroughbred racehorses in North America designed in the early 1970s by Andrew Beyer, the syndicated horse racing columnist for The Washington Post. of 118 for his swift Woodward, making it one of the highest-rated races of the year - but, theoretically, about three lengths slower than Candy Ride's 123 for the Pacific Classic. Mineshaft fans can take heart that the son of 1992 Breeders' Cup Classic winner A.P. Indy seems to have responded well to the two-month break from racing that trainer Neil Howard gave him after the Suburban Handicap. Mineshaft has won five of his seven starts this season. His latest defeat was a photo-finish decision to Perfect Drift in the Stephen Foster Handicap The Stephen Foster Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run in mid June at the end of the Churchill Downs Spring Meet in Louisville, Kentucky. The Stephen Foster Handicap is run on the dirt at a distance of one and one-eighth miles. at Churchill Downs. Perfect Drift will have his prep for Santa Anita on Saturday in the Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park, across the state line from Cincinnati. He and Pat Day are a 6-5 second choices to Hollywood Gold Cup The Hollywood Gold Cup is a Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions. winner Congaree (4-5) and Edgar Prado in the Kentucky Cup race, which drew five entrants. The race had its best moment as a steppingstone step·ping·stone n. 1. A stone that provides a place to step, as in crossing a stream. 2. An advantageous position for advancement toward a goal. in 1999, when third-place Cat Thief went on to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. Other prep possibilities: --Super Derby, Louisiana Downs, Sept. 20 (which served as prep for Breeders' Cup Classic winners Sunday Silence, Unbridled and Concern): Pointing for the race at Ten Most Wanted, Soto, Grand Hombre and Dynever. --Jockey Club Gold Cup, Belmont, Sept. 27 (A.P. Indy, Cigar, Skip Away): Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker's cough might keep him out, making Dubai World Cup The Dubai World Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held annually since 1996 at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The race is operated through the Emirates Horse Racing Authority (EHRA) whose Chairman is Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, winner Moon Ballad the challenger to Mineshaft. --Hawthorne Gold Cup, Sept. 28 (Awesome Again): Best candidate seems to be Iselin Handicap winner Tenpins tenpins: see bowling. . --Goodwood Handicap, Santa Anita, Oct. 4 (Ferdinand, Alphabet Soup, Tiznow twice): This will be Candy Ride's prep - if trainer Ron McAnally thinks he needs one. CAPTION(S): box Box: OUT OF THE GATE - Kevin Modesti |
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