Trainer Wayne Catalano was doing a little advance planning the morning of Oct. 7, both in the short term for the Keeneland meet and for a few weeks down the road at the Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 1-2 at Santa Anita Park.
"I was thinking about when to go out there this morning," Catalano said of the Breeders' Cup. "I'm going to have a bunch of them."
Near the top of the list is Gary and Mary West's Poker Player, who closed fast Sunday to win the Bourbon (gr. III) at 1 1/16 miles on the main track at Keeneland after the race was moved off the turf because of heavy rain.
"He's doing fine this morning," Catalano said. "Solitary Ranger (who finished ninth in the Oct. 5 Dixiana Breeders' Futurity, gr. I), I'm not sure which race for him (the grade I Juvenile or Juvenile Turf), but I am just going to draw a line through that race. Battlefield Angel (third in the Oct. 4 Darley Alcibiades, gr. I), she should have enough money to get in (the Juvenile Fillies, gr. I)."
On the near horizon, Catalano has I'm Already Sexy pointing to the Oct. 12 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (gr. I) and Ciao Bella Luna for the Oct. 19 Lexus Raven Run (gr. II).
"She (I'm Already Sexy) had a great work yesterday," Catalano said about the Pucker Up (gr. III) winner. "She worked in :59 and change and out six furlongs in 1:12 and that was the bullet before the break."
Ciao Bella Luna, who won the Beaumont (gr. II) at Keeneland in the spring, worked five furlongs in :59 the morning of Oct. 7 after the renovation break. Ciao Bella Luna will be trying to join Gypsy Robin, who last year became the first 3-year-old filly to win the Beaumont and Lexus Raven Run in the same year.
