Trainer Chad Brown continued his Breeders' Cup preparations the morning of Oct. 18 at Belmont Park, working a slew of potential starters over the inner turf course, including Stephanie's Kitten and Dacita.
Multiple graded stakes winner Stephanie's Kitten, who last out won the grade I Flower Bowl Oct. 3 at Belmont, and Chilean-bred Dacita, who won the grade II Ballston Spa in her North American debut Aug. 29 at Saratoga Race Course, worked a :49.05 half-mile in company.
Pointing to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. IT), Pilgrim (gr. III) third-place finisher Ray's The Bar worked in company with Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IT) hopeful Llanita, breezing five furlongs in 1:02.02.
"We had a day good overall," Brown said. "I thought all of our horses breezed perfect. Stephanie's Kitten worked good with Dacita, Llanita, and Ray's The Bar worked well, particularly the last quarter was very good, 23 seconds and change."
Other possible entrants Brown may saddle for the Juvenile Turf include Last Waltz, a new European arrival to the Brown barn who worked in company with Regardez on the inner turf going four furlongs in :50 1/5 seconds.
"I thought she (Last Waltz) did really well," Brown said. "She seems like a real class horse. We haven't had her long this was her first breeze for us today, but she took to it like she's been over here."
Lastly, Brown commented the previous day's impressive performance from Pricedtoperfection, who broke her maiden in the second race for owners Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence. A daughter of Temple City , the $230,000 April Ocala Breeders' Sale Co. spring sale of 2-year-olds in training purchase was already high on Brown's list from this summer and may entered for the Juvenile Fillies Turf as well.
"We've always loved this filly," Brown said. "We thought she was our Miss Grillo (gr. IIIT) horse early on in the summer. Unfortunately, she got a really wide trip in her debut and I was going to run her in the Miss Grillo as a maiden anyway and she missed the race with a foot bruise.
"Finally, once she got it all together, her foot healed up, and we got a couple of nice breezes under her going into yesterday's maiden and she ran like she always trained this summer. The timing isn't great and there's a chance she wouldn't get in, but she looked good this morning coming out of her race yesterday and I'll talk to the owners tomorrow and see what they want to do, but I might pre-enter her in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf."
Multiple graded stakes winner Hard Not to Like breezed over Belmont's main track Sunday morning for trainer Christophe Clement, as her connections weigh a possible start in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) Oct. 31 at Keeneland. The Ontario-bred daughter of Hard Spun worked an easy five furlongs, earning an official time of 1:02.98 to rank 10th of 11 at the distance.
"She had a nice maintenance work—nothing special," Clement said of the move. "She looked well to me. She seems to have come back in good order."
Back-to-back grade I wins established Hard Not to Like, owned by Peter Fluor's Speedway Stables, as one of the more formidable players of her division this year.
"The plan is to work her back next week on the turf before I make a final decision, but I will speak with Mr. Fluor and we will decide if we want to pre-enter for the Breeders' Cup on Monday," Clement said.
This year's Breeders' Cup would be the second championship appearance for the 6-year-old Hard Not to Like, who finished fifth in the 2011 Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs.
