Breeders’ Cup Classic: Wednesday notes and quotes from Del Mar
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Here are notes and quotes from Wednesday morning from Del Mar looking ahead to Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic.
Antiquarian
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Luis Saez
Morning activity: Galloped 1 1/4 miles at Del Mar under exercise rider Edy Quinteros and gate schooled. Also scheduled to school in the paddock Wednesday.
Planned activity: Will go to the track for a routine gallop.
The quote: The colt looks to be improving and establishing himself as a graded-stakes horse. “He is, physically and mentally. I've been driving from Boston to Saratoga every Friday to go watch his breezes, and they were consistently getting better visually. Time is time, and Todd's very consistent with the breeze times.
“Interestingly, after the seven-furlong race, his first race at Gulfstream this year, we knew that seven furlongs wasn't going to be a forte. Even after that race (which he won by 2 1/2 lengths), when he crossed the finish line, Todd looked at me, and I looked at Todd, and he says, ‘Wow, he showed a lot more speed than I thought he had.’ He's showing that in his races, because he's been a little bit more forwardly placed. It's just neat to see the individual improve and be on the incline at the right time.” – Don Little Jr., president and co-owner of Centennial Farms.
Baeza
Trainer: John Shirreffs
Jockey: Hector Berrios
Morning activity: Galloped on the main track, schooled in the paddock
Planned activity: Similar routine Thursday
The quote: Trainer John Shirreffs reported that all remains well with Grade 1-winner Baeza in the final days before the Classic.
“I thought he went very well,” Shirreffs said of the colt’s morning gallop over the Del Mar dirt. “He’s smart and he’s very classy, especially on the racetrack. He’s matured a lot.”
Baeza was set to face off against three-time Grade 1-winner Sovereignty in the Classic, but that rematch will have to wait for possibly another afternoon as Sovereignty was scratched from the race Wednesday morning because of a fever. Baeza ran second to Sovereignty in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes in July at Saratoga and third to his familiar foe in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes this year.
“Ah, I’m just really sorry about that,” Shirreffs said of the key scratch. “I was really looking forward to the race with Sovereignty in it. It’s a little disappointing that he’s not in it.”
Shirreffs added that Baeza proved he belongs with the best of his generation after his admirable efforts this summer in top 3-year-old events, including the Jim Dandy.
“We were within two lengths of Sovereignty in the Jim Dandy, and I thought Baeza ran a terrific race,” Shirreffs said. “He broke from the 1 hole, so he never got a break during the whole race because for him to relax a little and drop back, he would have caught all the dirt, so he had to maintain his position all the way.”
Baeza was a bridesmaid no more last out, taking a Pennsylvania Derby (G1) and living up to the expectations that have been placed on him since his older brothers, Mage and Dornoch, each won Classic races in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
“We wanted to win one of the Grade 1 races for 3-year-olds. We needed to do it some way, sometime, and we were running out of time,” Shirreffs said. “It was getting close to the end of the year, and the expectations on Baeza were pretty high, and he just had to come through. He ran a great day that day.”
Contrary Thinking
Trainer: Chad Brown
Jockey: Florent Geroux
Morning activity: Galloped 1 1/2 miles
Planned activity: Gallop 1 1/2 miles
The quote: “I’m happy with the post (4). I think it shook out the right way. He’s in a good position.” — Chad Brown
Fierceness
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: John Velazquez
Morning activity: Galloped 1 1/4 miles at Del Mar under exercise rider Danny Wright and visited starting gate. Scheduled to school in paddock.
Planned activity: Will go to the track for a routine gallop.
The quote 1: On the scratch of Sovereignty: “I feel bad for the connections and the racing public that was looking forward to seeing him run. It's just one of those things, as a trainer you hate to see that happen.” – Todd Pletcher.
“You put so much thought and effort into what you're going to do training-wise, where you’re going to do your preparations when you're going to ship, when you're going have your last breeze and you try to cover every base and try to do everything just right and things like this can still happen.” – Todd Pletcher
Forever Young
Trainer: Yoshito Yahagi
Jockey: Ryusei Sakai
Morning activity: Breezed in company with American Stage, four furlongs in 51.0 seconds
The quote: "I thought his work might be too light by watching his breeze. His rider, Ryusei, said it was a good piece of work. Everything is going well so far, and we need to keep his condition until the race. We are here to win the Classic, and I will leave it with my jockey." – Yoshito Yahagi
“I checked his action on the final corner as it is crucial at a tight track, Del Mar. He moved well, and it was perfect work this morning. This is a redemption against last year’s winner and runner-up. It is probably the last chance to beat both of them in a race, so I would like to get everything out of him and become the champion in the world.” – Ryusei Sakai
Journalism
Trainer: Michael McCarthy
Jockey: Jose Ortiz
Morning activity: Galloped 1 mile at Del Mar under exercise rider Marc Witkowski and visited the starting gate.
Planned activity: Will gallop.
The quote: On the scratch of Sovereignty: “I don't think it's good. I don't think it's ever good when a horse scratches. It's unfortunate for the fans. It's unfortunate for the connections. On big days like this, all you want to do is everybody to get the starting gate doing as well as they could possibly be doing and let them figure it out on the race track.” – Michael McCarthy
Mindframe
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Morning activity: Galloped 1 1/4 miles under exercise rider Carlos Perez and visited starting gate. Expected to school in paddock.
Planned activity: Will go to the track for a routine gallop.
The quote: On the bumping incident at the start of the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) that knocked jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. out of the saddle. Stablemate Antiquarian won the race: “We were, first of all, very fortunate that he came out of the race relatively unscathed. It's unfortunate that the whole thing happened and scary watching it. My biggest concern was that he was accustomed to doing his daily training on the main track and going on and off the quarter pole gap. And a lot of times when horses get loose they're looking for their way back to the barn and the quarter-pole gap would have been that way. I was scared that he might try to jump, jump the gate there, where he normally goes on and off. That was, that was sort of frightening. Once he once he cleared that, I could tell the outriders were in position to catch him, and then I could kind of return my focus to watching the race itself and seeing Antiquarian.” – Todd Pletcher
Nevada Beach
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Mike Smith
Morning activity: Galloped 1 1/2 miles
Planned activity: Same as Wednesday
The quote: On the scratch of Sovereignty: “Those things happen; it has happened to all of us. It’s disappointing to the connections that worked so hard to get him here. He was really doing well. That’s why we never relax until we put the saddle on. We are on pins and needles. A thousand things can go wrong.” – Bob Baffert
Sierra Leone
Trainer: Chad Brown
Jockey: Flavien Prat
Morning activity: Galloped 1 1/2 miles
Planned activity: Gallop 1 1/2 miles
Quote: “Everything went well today. He looked great.” – Chad Brown
Sovereignty
Trainer: Bill Mott
On Wednesday morning around 7:30, Godolphin’s Sovereignty, the horse many thought was the one to beat in the Classic, was lying down in his stall on the Del Mar backstretch.
Normally, he would be up and breathing fire, ready to head to the track to train.
But Sovereignty was sick. The leading contender for horse of the year and the morning-line favorite for the Classic was ruled out of the race by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott Wednesday morning.
The bad news started on Tuesday morning when it was announced that Sovereignty had spiked a fever the night before. After Sovereignty was treated with an anti-inflammatory, Mott had held out faint hope that the horse could recover in time for the race.
That hope disappeared when the fever returned Tuesday afternoon.
“If it didn’t go away, we were going to have a problem,” Mott said outside his office at Del Mar. “And it didn’t go away. “Neil (assistant trainer Poznansky) called me (Tuesday afternoon) and said it had jumped back up. We retreated him and, at that point, it’s not even a conversation. (Sovereignty) made the decision, that incident made the decision. That is what we said from the beginning, if he re-spiked, he would be out.”
Sovereignty, winner of five of six starts this year, including the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes (G1)had been installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the Classic. He has, in all likelihood, wrapped up the Eclipse Award for 3-year-old male champion and would have been a shoo-in for horse of the year with a victory in the Classic.
“Yes, I feel sorry for him and, frankly, my staff … everybody was excited about it,” Mott said. “And the fans. I really think this horse was a fan favorite at this point, and I feel badly that they are not going to be able to see him participate. I think a lot of people were really looking forward to seeing him run and seeing that race with him in it.”
Sovereignty’s next trip will be a flight to Kentucky, where he will spend time at Godolphin’s farm or a training center. When he will leave California will be determined when it is deemed Sovereignty is well enough to travel.
“This can knock you out for a while,” Mott said.
Mott said he did not know what Godolphin plans to do with Sovereignty next year, retire him or bring him back for another season.
He could only speculate on how Sovereignty got sick. He had worked a half-mile on Monday and seemed fine after that.
“Something in the air? Another horse? Something in the stall? Who knows?” Mott said.
The disappointment was evident around the three stalls Mott has at Del Mar. His filly Scylla, who is running in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Saturday, and Rocky the pony occupy the other two. It was quiet in the Mott corner of the barn, understandably so.
For Mott, he was not going to pout and feel sorry for himself.
“I will wake up tomorrow and I will go again,” he said with a smile. “I don’t know if it’s true, the saying that it was just meant to be. All I can do is think about that and maybe there is something to it. There are certain things that are out of your control.”
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