2001 Breeders' Cup Classic Notes

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Monday, October 22, 2001

A Fleets Dancer - A Fleets Dancer jogged one mile and galloped 1 ½ miles on Monday at Woodbine, one day before his final work in preparation of the Breeders' Cup Classic. He will ship to Belmont Park on Tuesday afternoon.

"He's doing very well," said trainer Roger Attfield. "He's a very happy horse right now. That's what's important - having a happy, healthy horse. Tomorrow will just be an easy breeze and then he'll ship."

Robert Landry will ride.

Albert The Great - Tracy Farmer's Albert The Great worked 5f in 1:02 under jockey Jorge Chavez on Monday morning in preparation for his final career start.

"Jorge worked him in 1:05 before the Classic last year, and he ran fourth," trainer Nick Zito said. "He went 1:02 with him here, so maybe he'll win by 15."

Albert The Great worked by himself shortly before 7 o'clock over a fast main track.

"That was the plan, we didn't want to go too fast," said Zito of the 4yo son of Go for Gin, who has won 6 of 9 career starts at Belmont.

Aptitude - Aptitude, who stamped himself as one of North America's top older horses with a 10-length win in the Oct. 6 Jockey Club Gold Cup, trotted an easy 1 ½ miles the wrong way at Belmont Park on Monday morning in preparation of the Breeders' Cup Classic. The exercise, which took place just after 9 a.m. with Jose Cuervas in the saddle, came two days after Aptitude worked five furlongs in 1:00 4/5.

"He's doing super," trainer Bobby Frankel said of the 4yo Juddmonte Farms homebred. "I loved his breeze [Saturday]. Of all the horses I worked over the weekend, I think he worked the best. I'm at ease with the way he's coming up to race."

Aptitude, one of Frankel's six contenders for the Breeders' Cup, broke a few lengths behind stablemate Sumitas and finished within a neck of the pacesetter at the wire, according to Frankel. "They went a little fast early, but they've been doing that all summer long. I think it's worked out all right."

Frankel-trained runners have won 13 Grade I races and more than $12 million on the year.

"He's been pretty keen [in his workouts]," said Frankel, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. "He looks really good laying behind the pace right now. The blinkers really moved him up as far as putting him in the race early. And he still has that good finishing kick."

Frankel outfitted the son of 1992 Breeders' Classic winner A.P. Indy with blinkers prior to the July 1 Hollywood Gold Cup, the race he crossed the wire in second, but was promoted to first after Futural was disqualified for interference.

He hasn't been denied a victory in two starts since that outing.

"The race that gave me all of the confidence was the race at Saratoga," Frankel said, referring to a 4 ¼-length victory in the Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap on Aug. 19. "Going into the race, he was doing really well. I thought the racing secretary put too much weight on him (122 pounds). It was the way he won and he beat [Perfect Cat and A Fleets Dancer] giving seven pounds. Those horses were close to Albert The Great all year long. [Albert The Great] was beating all of those horses, but they were getting beat by necks, heads and whatever. Aptitude blew them off of the track that day and that's what gave me confidence."

No further workout is planned for Aptitude prior to Saturday's Classic. "He'll just gallop up to the race," Frankel said. "He's as happy as can be. The key with this horse is his soundness. And he's as sound as can be right now."

Jerry Bailey, the national earnings leader with a record $20 million, will ride Aptitude in the Classic.

Black Minnaloushe and Galileo - Trainer Aidan O'Brien's seven pre-entered runners in the Breeders' Cup are due to arrive at Farmingdale Airport around 4 p.m. Tuesday with arrival at Belmont Park anticipated for 6 p.m. The flight will originate at Shannon Airport on the west coast of Ireland.

Brahms - See Mile Notes

Fantastic Light and Sakhee - Fantastic Light, Godolphin Racing's 5yo son of Rahy, galloped 1 ½ miles on the Belmont main track Monday morning for assistant trainer Tom Albertrani after schooling in the paddock during racing Sunday.

The Irish Champion Stakes winner also has a second-preference pre-entry in the Breeders' Cup Turf and a decision will be made Wednesday morning after a 5f work on the main track as to his destination.

"Fantastic Light has already worked once on the main track here (7f, 1:32 1/5, Friday) and trained on it last year," said Albertrani. "The time wasn't anything fancy but it looked like he was handling the track okay. Neither horse has shown us anything to suggest they aren't handling the dirt.

Stable rider Frankie Dettori is due in Tuesday and will probably work Fantastic Light and stablemate Sakhee (5f, 1:05 1/5, Friday) according to Albertrani. But the rider's choice of mount will depend on how Sakhee, also pre-entered in the Classic and Turf, performs in a similar spin on Wednesday morning.

"Both horses have trained on dirt in Dubai and they won't have to do anything too fast on Wednesday," Albertrani said. "It will be more a question of watching their action. But you can't always tell. Take a horse like Halling (eased in the '95 Classic at Belmont), who worked well on the dirt, but when it came to running on it, he couldn't handle it when the pressure was on. If a horse likes dirt, he likes it. You can't get a horse used to it.

"Sheikh Mohammed and Sheikh Hamdan will make the decision. They won't be here for the work but we will report to them what we see and what we think and they will decide whether to run both horses (in the Classic) or split them up."

Freedom Crest - The Cinderella horse in the Breeders' Cup Classic galloped 1 ½ miles at Belmont Park under regular exercise rider Korron Wardlow. "He was a bit cantankerous, but professional at the same time," said Wardlow. "He loved the surface."

"He also went to the paddock," said trainer Richard Baltas. "He never turned a hair. He's just soaking it all in. He will gallop again Tuesday and Wednesday and probably blow out Thursday or Friday."

Baltas, who claimed Freedom Crest for $32,000 in a 1999 maiden race, developed the 5yo gelding into his first stakes horse with earnings of more than $600,000. "He worked six furlongs Friday at Hollywood Park-I got him in 1:11 4/5, the clockers in 1:12," added Baltas. "He galloped out seven furlongs in 1:24 2/5 and a mile in 1:38 3/5.

Freedom Crest's groom is Frank Ramirez. Owners Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran are scheduled to arrive Wednesday from California. Freedom Crest arrived from California Saturday with Tiznow.

Continued...

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