HORSE RACING: ROCK HARD TEN APPEARS FIT FOR CLASSIC.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Horse Racing ARCADIA - If Rock Hard Ten is good enough, the big horse in the California contingent will win the 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 1ΒΌ 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. next week in 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 . Fitness questions can be put aside after his victory in the Goodwood Handicap earlier this month and his smooth performance in one last pre-Breeders' Cup workout Thursday. Richard Mandella stepped down from the bench on which the trainer stood to watch Rock Hard Ten's early-afternoon workout with the aid of the infield video screen and a stopwatch, and summed up what he'd seen. ``Perfect,'' Mandella said from beneath a Panama hat as he followed Rock Hard Ten on the walk back to the barn. Rock Hard Ten, one of 22 Breeders' Cup hopefuls who have been training in California, flies out of Ontario early Sunday morning and is expected to have only light gallops at Belmont Park in the days before the Oct. 29 races. Is he good enough to win the Classic and lay claim to the Horse of the Year title? That's the question That's the Question is an American quiz game show on GSN, hosted by game show veteran and former Entertainment Tonight reporter, Bob Goen, which premiered in October 2006. to be answered when the enormous 4-year-old takes on Saint Liam, Borrego, Flower Alley and others in the day's main event. The 4-year-old winner of 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 in March has finished first in seven of 11 career starts, including four in a row since owners Ernest Moody, Maria Vila and Madeleine Pickens (formerly Paulson) moved him from Jason Orman to Mandella. But he has never 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. higher than 112, a rating exceeded by Saint Liam, Borrego and Perfect Drift on their best days. In his pre-Mandella days, he was no match for top-quality Smarty Jones and Lion Heart in the major 3-year-old events. And the colt who used to be the bane BANE. This word was formerly used to signify a malefactor. Bract. 1. 2, t. 8, c. 1. of starting-gate crews is winless in three starts when shipped outside California. His edge in the $4 million Classic is that he has a Hall of Fame trainer calling the shots - Mandella won the 2003 Classic with Pleasantly Perfect - and appears on top of his game after the nearly seven-month gap between the Santa Anita Handicap and Goodwood. ``It's a challenge when you can't run (race) them,'' said Mandella, who shelved Rock Hard Ten for the spring and winter because the colt was suffering from ``aches and pains - nothing serious.'' ``But when you have a Gentlemen, a Pleasantly Perfect or a Rock Hard Ten, you can do a lot of things that you can't do with other horses,'' Mandella said. ``He's got a mind of his own. But in the last few months he's gotten better and better to work with. Maybe he's grown up a little bit.'' Rock Hard Ten, who will be ridden by Gary Stevens at the Breeders' Cup, was handled by Paul Nilluang when he worked 7 furlongs Thursday in company with stablemate Noun 1. stablemate - a horse stabled with another or one of several horses owned by the same person stable companion Equus caballus, horse - solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times Dixie Glow. He worked out at 12:30 p.m. rather than during the morning because Mandella wanted the track dry and well-groomed. Gliding past Dixie Glow on the turn, Rock Hard Ten finished about five lengths in front and was clocked in 1:25 3/5. He clicked off steady quarter-miles in the 24 2/5-second range. ``Not too hard, not to easy,'' Mandella said. ``He does make it look easy.'' The Daily Racing Form The Daily Racing Form, LLC (DRF) is a broadsheet newspaper founded in 1894 in Chicago, Illinois by Frank Brunell. The paper publishes the past performances of race horses as a statistical service for bettors on horse racing in the United States. odds-maker lists Rock Hard Ten as the 7-2 second choice to Saint Liam (3-1) for the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic. Of horses who have been training in California, only Lost in the Fog Lost in the Fog (February 4, 2002 - September 17, 2006) was an American thoroughbred race horse. Bred by Susan Seper and born in Florida, the Fog's sire was Lost Soldier (sire so far of 10 stakes winners), a son of Danzig (himself the son of Northern Dancer ranked at #43 by The (even-money) in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint The Breeders' Cup Sprint is an American Weight for Age Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for three year olds & up. Run on dirt over a distance of 6 Furlongs (3/4 mile), the race has been held annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the goes to New York with shorter odds. Other solid West Coast hopes among the 117 horses who passed the ``pre-entry'' stage Wednesday for the eight Breeders' Cup races: Singletary (8-1), defending champion in the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Mile, Megahertz One million cycles per second. See MHz. MegaHertz - (MHz) Millions of cycles per second. The unit of frequency used to measure the clock rate of modern digital logic, including microprocessors. (5-1) in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, Stevie Wonderboy (8-1) in the $1.5 million 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. , and Wild Fit (6-1) in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies is a 1 1/16-mile thoroughbred horse race on dirt (although the distance has varied, depending on the configuration of the host track) for two-year-old fillies run annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part . Race lineups will be set Wednesday. --Trouble for P. Val? Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who was late contacting the track officials when he missed Wednesday's races at Santa Anita, was ordered off mounts through Sunday on doctor's orders because of a sore foot. Valenzuela, whose history of substance abuse makes any unannounced absence a red flag, met with Oak Tree stewards Thursday morning and was ordered to take a drug test. Steward George Slender said Valenzuela and agent Ronnie Ebanks claimed neither man contacted officials Wednesday because of miscommunication between the two. Slender said they produced evidence Valenzuela left a cellular-phone message for Ebanks on Wednesday morning. Valenzuela, 43, had taken off six mounts Sunday after complaining about the bad foot. The 1989 Kentucky Derby winner with Sunday Silence, Valenzuela returned from his latest long suspension in January to ride under a conditional license that subjects him to random drug tests. CAPTION(S): box Box: OUT OF THE GATE BY KEVIN MODESTI |
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