Breeders' Cup notes: Wednesday updates on Classic horses

This was the reported activity Wednesday for the horses entered in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic.

Arthur’s Ride

Trainer: Bill Mott

Jockey: Junior Alvarado

Morning activity: Galloped 1 1/4 miles under exercise rider Damian Hinds.

Planned activity: Repeat of Wednesday routine on Thursday.

Mott: “He looked good to me today. He was just showing good energy and moving well. Everybody knows who he is. He is pretty easy to identify (because of his white color).”

City of Troy

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Jockey: Ryan Moore

Morning activity: Went second in the single-file line of Aidan O’Brien’s 10-strong Ballydoyle brigade, plus Donnocha O’Brien-trained tagalong Porta Fortuna, leaving the European side of the quarantine barn at Wednesday morning and heading to the main track, where they jogged clockwise one lap and then turned around to canter seven furlongs. He then stood in the stalls and returned to the barn area.

Planned activity: “He’ll go a little bit further and a little bit faster tomorrow, but it’ll just ramp up a little notch every day," O'Brien said. "A little bit longer a little bit faster and always comfortable. That’s the plan, but it doesn’t always go according to plan, as you know.”

City of Troy: The greatest trainee's greatest test

“His movement, ability, cruise, action, determination, makeup, the way he’s put together — a very compact horse who looks much smaller until you stand into him and realize how big he really is — all the things that make him different," O'Brien said. "His movement is massive with big, long strides; he’s aggressive and he’s hardy and you can see his dad (Justify) and granddad (Galileo) in him, so he’s always been an exciting horse. All the things that make him different, and he has the pedigree to back it all up.”

That is the long and somehow still short of it on why O'Brien, one of horse racing history’s greatest trainers, believes Breeders’ Cup Classic contender City of Troy is his best pupil to date.

The European champion 2-year-old of 2023, Group 1 Epsom Derby winner and world’s top-rated 3-year-old enters Saturday’s 1 1/4-mile test as the morning-line favorite and most intriguing horse in years to take on America’s richest race. In the process, he challenges racing fans and bettors to weigh if boasting a dirt Triple Crown-winning sire and world-class connections will be enough to transfer his brilliant dominance over Europe’s elite to upending America’s A-listers.

“I don’t look at betting ever, on purpose, to tell you the truth,” O’Brien said. “He’s been the most different horse that we’ve ever had and what he did last year and then going wrong this year and coming back to his best, I think we have gone up through the stages fairly right to (be favored in this race). Hopefully we have him prepared right. He’s by Justify, he gallops like Justify, open and long, he gets the trip very well, he’s a Derby winner and he’s a (seven-furlong) Dewhurst winner at 2. I’m under no illusion of what can happen and not happen, if you know what I mean.

“Obviously, we’ve never won it and we’ve got beaten with some great horses in it and thought that maybe our preparation wasn’t right with a lot of different stuff,” he continued. “We will keep trying and trying to improve our preparation, but the most important thing is the horse. You have to have the horse with the ability, the genetic makeup, one who wants it and a great rider. We think we have that in Ryan (Moore) and we think we have the horse, so hopefully we have prepared him properly, but won’t know that until later on.”

Breaking from post 3, the six-time winner from seven starts and earner of more than $3 million must face a slew of new challenges, from a salty field, to possible kickback if unable to get to the front, to the sheer rough-and-tumble pace-intensive essence of dirt racing. Connections are hopeful, if not optimistic, they have the right horse with the appropriate tools.

“He has pace naturally, which is what we saw when he was a 2-year-old,” O’Brien said. “You saw him open up (and show pace) as a 2-year-old, but we haven’t yet asked him to do that as a 3-year-old and that’s what he’ll have to do here. He went out there and showed pace in the Guineas, but wasn’t 100 percent fit and a sprinter took him on and I didn’t prepare him right for that race. Then we started him out slow and started revving him up and revving him up more. But he’s a naturally fast horse who likes to show pace.”

Getting his second look on Wednesday morning of the Del Mar dirt, the son of Fillies Mile winner Together Forever, a half to 2009 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint 12th Lord Shanakill, got a little warm, but not to the extent of his first day out of quarantine. Though it seem that a little fire is very much welcome to his connections as he attempts to burn up the history books.

“Sweating never bothers me and I would always rather see them sweating, then not, because usually if they’re sweating, they’re up for it, rather than coming here floating around,” O’Brien said. “The Classic is going to be ferocious and he’s going to have to be on his game. If he’s around here laidback, you get wiped out. I’d rather him be a little bit edgy and a bit ready. This is a big difference to racing in any race that we are used to, where everything happens smooth and it comes back to you, here it doesn’t happen. I don’t think keeping him on edge will be any issue.

“An awfully lot of things have to work for him and there are so many variables we can’t control, but we’ve done our best, we think until another stone comes that we don’t know about yet.”

Derma Sotogake

Trainer: Hidetaka Otonashi

Jockey: Christophe Lemaire

Morning activity: He did a light exercise in the seven-furlong chute.

Stable representative: “We breezed him yesterday. We were able to breeze him a little harder than we planned because he recovered well after his travel. He is in good form and happy.”

Fierceness

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Jockey: John Velazquez

Morning activity: Galloped approximately one mile under exercise rider Danny Wright. Schooled at paddock and gate.

Planned activity: Scheduled to gallop approximately a mile again Thursday.

Pletcher on whether he's had another situation with a major horse like Fierceness when he opted to skip the Belmont Stakes to run at Saratoga: “I think that's a question you have with all of them: are they ready? In his case, we ran in the Derby and the next decision we had was, do we want to run in the Belmont? He just wasn't ready to do that. He needed some more time. That time allowed us to kind of rebuild and put some weight on him. So everything that he didn't show us, from the Derby to the Belmont, he then showed us everything we wanted to see from the Jim Dandy to the Travers. It was really just sort of seeing how the horse was doing, and gauging his fitness level, and just everything about him, sort of what you do with all of them. Some of them work out, as in his case. Sometimes there is no right move. But this case we fortunately chose correctly.”

Forever Young

Trainer: Yoshito Yahagi

Jockey: Ryusei Sakai

Morning activity: He did a light exercise on the main track and schooled in paddock.

Sakai: “To be honest, we preferred outside stall but that’s what it is. I just need to believe him to win. I want to win.”

Yahagi: “Everything goes as we planned. He moved very well yesterday and his condition after the breeze is nothing to worry.”

Highland Falls

Trainer: Brad Cox

Jockey: Luis Saez

Morning activity: Galloped with exercise rider Katie Tolbert

Planned activity: Will gallop

Cox: “He’s doing good. So far so good. He’s just galloping into the race.”

Mixto

Trainer: Doug O’Neill

Jockey: Kyle Frey

Morning activity: Galloped 1 1/2 miles with Tony Romero up.

Planned activity: Gallop Thursday

O'Neill: “He loves Del Mar”

Newgate

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Jockey: Frankie Dettori

Morning activity: Galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Umberto Gomez, schooled in the paddock

Planned activity: Will gallop Thursday.

Baffert: “Newgate looked good today. He is coming into this race really well.”

Closer Look: Newgate could give Baffert Classic win no. 5

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert stands alone when it comes to winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic. No trainer has landed in the Classic winner’s circle more than Baffert.

Saturday, he’ll go for his fifth Classic victory when he saddles Newgate

Baffert is quick to point out that his prior Classic champs, Bayern in 2014, American Pharoah in 2015, Arrogate in 2016 and Authentic in 2020, all were 3-year-olds.

Newgate, a son of Into Mischief, is 4. If he were to win, his price would be the longest of any Baffert horse to win the Classic. He is 20-1 on the morning line.

“You want to have a horse that brings his ‘A’ game,” Baffert said.

Newgate was all of that in his most recent race when he just missed in the California Crown Stakes (G1). He finished third in a three-horse photo. Baffert saw enough in that race to put Newgate on the fast track to the Classic.

The California Crown was his first start since March 30 when he was nowhere in the Dubai World Cup (G1). He finished ninth, beaten 18 1/2 lengths and then earned time off.

And now, here he is, ready to roll in the biggest race on the biggest day of racing on U.S. soil.

After Dubai, the Classic might not have been on the radar.

“We just had to draw a line through Dubai,” said Tom Ryan, racing manager of SF Racing, part of Newgate’s ownership group.

Following the Dubai disappointment, Newgate got some time off and went unseen through the summer. Baffert and Ryan knew the horse had talent and figured he would bounce back.

And he did.

“You know, there was a point in time where we thought he was going to be our (2023 Kentucky) Derby horse,” Ryan said. “It’s not too outrageous to think he could have ended up here. We are delighted it has played out that way.”

Newgate has a record of 11: 3-4-1. His biggest win of 2024 came in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) when he and Frankie Detttori won by a head. His other graded stakes victory was the Robert B. Lewis (G3) last year. That also was by neck and came a race after he lost the Sham (G3) by the same margin.

An $850,000 purchase at the 2021 Keeneland September sale, Newgate will fight.

“Physically, mentally and pedigree wise, he has all the attributes a Classic horse should have,” Ryan said. “Look, we are excited to have him here. And he is here fit and healthy and touting himself on the track in the mornings. We are excited.”

Newgate has worked well on his way to the Breeders’ Cup. His past two works at Santa Anita on Oct. 20 and 27 were bullets.

To get here, he had to show Baffert he belonged. The trainer got that after watching Newgate nearly pull off the win in the California Crown.

As good as he was that day, Newgate will have to be even better to pull off the upset and give Baffert Classic win No. 5.

“We are definitely going to need him to run his lifetime best,” Ryan said. “One hundred percent. But he is acting like a horse that is ready to take on the world.”

Next

Trainer: Doug Cowans

Jockey: Luan Machado

Morning activity: Galloped

Planned activity: Will gallop

Assistant trainer Justin Atkins: “He’s doing great. We’re just going to let him go out there and look around.”

Pyrenees

Trainer: Cherie DeVaux

Jockey: Brian Hernandez Jr.

Morning activity: Galloped 1 3/8 miles under exercise rider and assistant trainer Enrique Miranda.

Planned activity: Likely same routine Thursday.

Assistant trainer Enrique Miranda: “He was pumped up this morning and did it very well. He felt great.”

Enrique Miranda has been an assistant to Cherie DeVaux for about one year. The Southern California native has been relishing his time with DeVaux’s five Breeders’ Cup hopefuls as they prepare for what could be a banner weekend for the team.

Miranda, who previously worked for trainer John Sadler, said the homecoming to California has been made even sweeter by Pyrenees, who is one of 14 slated to line up for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on Saturday. Miranda gallops the son of Into Mischief past the droves of fans and media each morning, and said the feeling is almost indescribable.

“I never thought I would be on a Breeders’ Cup Classic horse,” Miranda said. “It’s been great and I’ve been enjoying it. It’s a dream I never knew I would have. It’s exciting and I feel really proud of the horse and the whole team.”

Rattle N Roll

Trainer: Kenny McPeek

Jockey: Jose Ortiz

Morning activity: Galloped a little more than 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Danny Ramsey.

Planned activity: Will do the same exercise on Thursday at the same time.

McPeek: “He would have been second choice at Keeneland in the Fayette Stakes (G2, last Saturday) for $350,000, and we are running for $7 million (if he gets in). The ownership group was game to do it. They said, ‘let’s do it.’ Why not? How many chances are you going to get?”

Señor Buscador

Trainer: Todd Fincher

Jockey: Joel Rosario

Morning activity: Visited starting gate and then galloped 1 1/2 miles under Dennis Means

Planned activity: Gallop Thursday morning with Fincher back in town

Means: “I was with him after the Pegasus until eight days before he left for the Saudi Cup. He was good this morning and it feels like he is coming back to the way he was when I was with him in Miami.”

Sierra Leone

Trainer: Chad Brown

Jockey: Flavien Prat

Morning activity: Had a standard one-circuit gallop of the main track.

Planned activity: More of the same on Thursday, two days before his race. Brown: “He’s moving super over the track and has looked really comfortable. We just have to see how the track is playing. The biggest concern is how these horses are going to handle however the track was playing. In the summer, it seemed that you had to be really forward in these races. I’m hopeful that the track will even out a little bit, so we’ll just have to see.”

Tapit Trice

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Morning activity: Galloped approximately 1 mile under exercise rider Amelia Green. Schooled at the gate and in the paddock.

Planned activity: Scheduled to gallop approximately a mile again.

Pletcher: “Hopefully, he can work his way over (from post 10). He looks to me like the kind of horse that can. I'm kind of assuming he gets off to a little better start than he did the last time in the Woodward. I would think he would be the kind of horse that could hopefully fall over into a mid-pack position and hopefully save a little ground.”

Ushba Tesoro

Trainer: Noboru Takagi

Jockey: Yuga Kawada

Morning activity: Worked five furlongs on main track in 1:05.80.

Takagi: “He was concentrating today, and there was no problem. It was a very good breeze.”