Trainer Steve Asmussen had six candidates for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships work Oct. 17 over Churchill Downs’ main track.
My Miss Aurelia, headed for the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I), worked five furlongs over fast footing in 1:02. She produced the fifth-fastest of 35 works at the distance. Stonestreet Stables and George Bolton’s homebred daughter of Smart Strike covered the distance in fractional times of :12 3/5 :24 4/5, :37 and :49 3/5, and galloped out six furlongs in 1:16. My Miss Aurelia comes into the Breeders’ Cup with victories in the Frizette Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park and Saratoga’s grade II Adirondack Stakes.
“I’m very pleased with her breeze,” Asmussen said. “We’re obviously extremely impressed with her talent and how she’s going. We have a pretty good comfort level with the Breeders’ Cup running here. She didn’t start here, but she spent a lot of time here in the spring. She’s comfortable with the surroundings.”
Working in company with the 2-year-old Seeker, Tapizar breezed five furlongs as the workmates competed the distance in 1:02 4/5. Internal fractions for Tapizar were :13 3/5, :25 4/5, :38 1/5, and he galloped out six furlongs in 1:17 1/5. Owned and bred by Ron Winchell, Tapizar (by Tapit ) is being aimed for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) and comes into the race off a win Oct. 8 with a 2 1/4-length victory in a Belmont Park allowance race against Uptowncharlybrown and Boys At Tosonova. Winchell’s Seeker is a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup’s newest race, the Juvenile Sprint. Seeker is a homebred son of Hard Spun .
Wilburn , Stonestreet Stable’s son of Bernardini , breezed five furlongs in 1:02 2/5. His internal fractions were :12 3/5, :25 1/5, :37 3/5 and :49 4/5, and he galloped out six furlongs in 1:15 4/5. Wilburn is also a Dirt Mile candidate. He notched his third consecutive victory with a 4 3/4-length win over grade I Preakness winner Shackleford in the Indiana Derby (gr. II) at Hoosier Park.
Winchell’s Sabercat, a Bluegrass Cat colt who is being pointed toward the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I), worked five furlongs in 1:02 2/5. He comes into the Breeders’ Cup off a win in the $75,000 Garden State Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Kirk and Judy Robison’s She Digs Me is also being pointed toward the Juvenile Sprint. The colt by Henny Hughes, winner of grade III Sapling Stakes at Monmouth Park, breezed five furlongs in 1:02 3/5.
And finally, Cathy and Bob Zollars' Daddy Nose Best , third in the Summer Stakes (Can-III) on the turf at Woodbine, breezed five furlongs Oct. 16 in 1:02 3/5 over a fast main Churchill Downs track. The son of Scat Daddy is expected to start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. IT).
Seven of the eight Asmussen trainees are on the grounds at Churchill Downs and Regally Ready is scheduled to arrive on Oct. 18 after winning the $500,000 Nearctic Stakes (Can-IT) at Woodbine on Oct. 16. Vinery Stable’s 4-year-old More Than Ready gelding is perfect in two starts over the Churchill Downs turf course, with his most recent run here being a victory over Bridgetown and defending Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (gr. IT) winner Chamberlain Bridge in the grade III Churchill Downs Turf Sprint on Kentucky Derby day.
If all eight horses start in their Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 4 and 5, it will be Asmussen's largest Breeders' Cup contingent yet.
“We’re very pleased with the physical condition that we’re in right now,” Asmussen said. “We surely want a couple of more weeks of that.”