Bullards Alley under consideration for Breeders’ Cup Turf

Trainer Tim Glyshaw will soon meet over dinner with the owners of Bullards Alley, Wayne Spalding and Faron McCubbins, on a pressing matter since Sunday’s Pattison Canadian International at Woodbine.

What’s next for the 5-year-old gelding, now a Grade 1 winner who destroyed a field of talented domestic and international turf stars with a final margin of 10 3/4 lengths over second place?

“In my opinion, there are two choices,” Glyshaw said Wednesday.

He’d send Bullards Alley either to the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at 1 1/2 miles or run him back Nov. 11 in Aqueduct’s Grade 3 Red Smith at 1 3/8 miles.

Glyshaw said he has since Sunday received invitations to race — all expenses paid — in Hong Kong and Japan. But neither of those circuits allow Lasix, something Glyshaw sees as vital for Bullards Alley to stay healthy while running.

“My job as the trainer is to do what’s best for the horse, or at least push for what’s best for the horse,” he said.

Breeders’ Cup pre-entries are due out next week.

Cost will be no problem for Glyshaw’s definite Del Mar-bound contender Bucchero, recent winner of Keeneland’s Woodford — Glyshaw’s first Grade 2 victory. Total cost to run in the $1 million Turf Sprint is $30,000 for that race.

A week later, Glyshaw scored his first Grade 1 with Bullards Alley at Woodbine. But it’s $50,000 to pre-enter and $50,000 more to enter the Turf, Glyshaw said.

“I can’t tell an owner that you’ve got to spend this hundred thousand to get us in this race,” the trainer added. “I can’t do that. But I can tell them that you never know if you’ll have this chance again, and it’s just a quarter of what he made in American money.”

So Glyshaw will state his case with Bullards Alley now an earner of more than $840,000 from his 35 starts with six victories.

By Jonathan Lintner