Following a busy coaching morning Oct. 29 at Keeneland, the exercise motion quieted on the host website of the Breeders’ Cup Oct. 30, with solely 4 Breeders’ Cup horses recording breezes, led by the division chief within the 3-year-old male ranks, Epicenter .
He and two different of Steve Asmussen’s Breeders’ Cup staff took the Lexington monitor shortly after 6:30 a.m. ET, early sufficient to nonetheless be beneath the early morning darkness however earlier than rain was forecast to fall. All three had upkeep works forward of their races for his or her Corridor of Fame coach.
The Preakness Stakes (G1) and Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve (G1) runner-up, Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Epicenter, is ready to race Nov. 5 within the Longines Breeders’ Cup Traditional (G1) towards an all-star area led by heavy favourite Flightline .
Epicenter, who picked up his first top-level stakes victory in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) in his last start Aug. 27, breezed four furlongs in :50 4/5. A moderate final half-mile workout before a race is standard for Asmussen, whose horses customarily complete their more serious drills two weeks to 10 days before their intended targets.
A final workout from 3-year-old @BreedersCup Traditional contender EPICENTER, who labored a straightforward half mile in :50 4/5. pic.twitter.com/ZaYUVh1vp3
— TVG (@TVG) October 30, 2022
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The three-year-old Not This Time colt has progressively matured by way of 2022.
“He is an exquisite horse, and I believe there’s a little bit extra of him on a regular basis,” Asmussen stated. “I believe the focus is on getting the perfect effort out of the horses that we’ve, and we have actually centered on races from level A to level B. After they do their finest and are in the perfect form, we get the perfect final result, which is our focus and the one factor we will management.”
Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) contender Society took a quick jog down the stretch before heading around to put in a half-mile in :49 3/5. The chestnut Gun Runner filly floated across the Keeneland main track, making a seamless transition ahead of her first test against older stakes females in the Nov. 5 Distaff. In her most recent start Sept. 24 at Parx Racing, the Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds-owned 3-year-old filly captured the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion Stakes (G1), winning by 5 3/4 lengths under a frontrunning ride from Florent Geroux, ahead of Morning Matcha and fellow Distaff contender Secret Oath .
“She works over this track beautifully; she is coming off of two very fast front-running victories,” Asmussen said. “If the racetrack is tightened up and speed favoring, she will be extremely hard to reel in.”
NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) pre-entrant Grand Love similarly turned in a moderate, professional breeze with four furlongs in :50 1/5. The 2-year-old filly will make her third start in the Nov. 4 Juvenile Fillies, coming off a third-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile Pocahontas Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs Sept. 17. She set an easy pace but weakened in that race in her first route.
“I think Grand Love is an unbelievably talented, beautiful mover by Gun Runner,” Asmussen said. “She has trained beautifully here at Keeneland and put in a wonderful work leading into the Juvenile Fillies. (She) got a lot out of her last race, I expected a little better, but with how the racetrack played, she got a little tired.”
The Asmussen horses were not the only Breeders’ Cup runners to work. Hronis Racing’s Edgeway was not initially slated to breeze Sunday, but due to the impending wet weather, trainer John Sadler chose to move up her workout. She breezed five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 under assistant trainer Juan Leyva, five days after an Oct. 25 workout at Keeneland.
EDGEWAY works @keenelandracing for the @BreedersCup Filly and Mare Dash! @sadlerracing trains the swift filly, @JuanLeyva1984 up within the irons. pic.twitter.com/PrQuLnA8eh
— TVG (@TVG) October 30, 2022
“Very good, nicely inside herself. It was only a very nice work for her immediately,” stated Sadler, who watched her breeze from the frontside.
Edgeway breezes beneath assistant coach Juan Leyva Oct. 30 at Keeneland
Edgeway follows the same schedule heading into the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Dash (G1) as she did final 12 months, when she ran second behind champion Ce Ce at Del Mar. Ce Ce is again for this 12 months’s race.
Over the previous two years, Edgeway has gained the Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3) at Del Mar in the course of the summer season in her remaining tune-ups. She gained the 2021 Rancho Bernardo by a size and by a nostril this 12 months over Slammed , who gained the Oct. 8 Thoroughbred Membership of America Stakes (G2) final out at Keeneland.
Watch: Sadler Talks Flightline Work, BC Runners Flightline, Bran
“She was flattered by how nicely (Slammed) ran at Keeneland as a result of we appeared fairly odds-on within the Rancho Bernardo, and the opposite filly gave us (a battle)—it was one of many higher races run at Del Mar,” Sadler stated. “It was a stretch-long battle, and he or she prevailed.
“She’s in fine condition. She’s as soon as once more in with Ce Ce. You may have some new gamers in there. So it is a actually good race, however if you happen to take a look at her report, she’s eight out of 13, twice she’s missed a verify, and he or she runs recent.”
Sadler additionally reported Sunday morning that secure star Flightline appeared to exit his Oct. 29 exercise in good situation in preparation for the Traditional. He’s scheduled to jog Monday.
Along with Flightline and Edgeway, Sadler runs Bran within the Breeders’ Cup Turf Dash (G1T). All three of Sadler’s contributors are in competitors on the second day of the Breeders’ Cup.
| Horse | Observe | Distance | Time | Division |
| Dancing Buck | Belmont Park Coaching Observe | 4F (Grime-Quick) | :49 | Turf Dash |
| Edgeway | Keeneland | 5F (Grime-Quick) | 1:00 1/5 | Filly & Mare Dash |
| Epicenter | Keeneland | 4F (Grime-Quick) | :50 4/5 | Traditional |
| Fingal’s Cave | Belmont Park Coaching Observe | 4F (Grime-Quick) | :49.67 | Filly & Mare Dash |
| Grand Love | Keeneland | 4F (Grime-Quick) | :50 1/5 | Juvenile Fillies |
| Girl Speightspeare | Woodbine | 5F (All Climate-Quick) | :59 4/5 | Filly & Mare Turf |
| Shirl’s Speight | Woodbine | 5F (All Climate-Quick) | 1:00 1/5 | Mile |
| Society | Keeneland | 4F (Grime-Quick) | :49 3/5 | Distaff |