Special Ring to Contest Breeders' Cup Mile

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Eddie Read Handicap (gr. IT) hero Special Ring will make his next start in the Oct. 5 Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IIT) and win or lose, will most likely be in the gate for the Oct. 25 Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT), trainer Julio Canani said.

With David Flores in the irons, the Prestonwood Farm-owned horse worked six furlongs in 1:12 1/5 over Santa Anita's fast main track Monday morning.

"He's doing so good right now, let me tell you," Canani said. "He worked in 1:12 and change so easy. I think he'll be just perfect for the (Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile.)"

Special Ring earned his first graded stakes victory in the Eddie Read and also set the course record at Del Mar for the 1 1/8-mile distance when he stopped the clock in 1:45 4/5. He also set Del Mar's course record for one mile last summer, earning a final time of 1:32 3/5 when he won the Wickerr Handicap.

"He is a very good horse and I think he belongs in the Breeders' Cup," Canani said. "I've been getting him ready for it all year long."

Overall, Special Ring has earned $657,023 with a record of 23-9-4-3. He finished second to Redattore in the Shoemaker Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) and also to Candy Ride in the American Handicap (gr. IIT), both at Hollywood Park earlier this year. Canani has trained two Breeders' Cup Mile winners, Silic in 1999 and Val Royal in 2001.

Special Ring is a 6-year-old son of Nureyev and the Bering mare Ring Beaune bred in Kentucky by Wertheimer et Frere.

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