BC Dirt Mile in plans for Noosa Beach

The prospect of Noosa Beach running in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile inched closer to reality this week when owner Jeff Harwood said he was “99 percent sure” he would meet the June 30 deadline to pay a $25,000 Open Enrollment nomination fee that would make Noosa Beach eligible to compete at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in November.

Trainer Doris Harwood said she and her husband were still gathering information from Breeders’ Cup racing manager Josh Christian and had yet to commit to a Breeders’ Cup campaign. If the Dirt Mile is oversubscribed, Harwood said, Noosa Beach would have to pass muster with a selection committee because he is unlikely to qualify under a Cup points system tied to graded stakes placings.

“Just because we pay the $25,000 doesn’t mean we get in,” Doris Harwood said Tuesday. “I spoke with Josh, and he’d love to see us nominate. We’d have to be voted in by committee so he’s doing some investigating for me, checking with people in the know to see if people think the horse would make it in. . . . This isn’t something we have to do, but I’d like to let the horse have an opportunity. I think he can compete, and it would be cool to give him that opportunity.”