Allegre – The newly purchased 4yo bay son of Orientate took his first test over the Santa Anita turf course Monday morning and clocked 1:01 3/5 for 5f around the dogs.
Trainer Brian Koriner called the workout “very nice. He just cruised around there.”
Koriner bought the horse privately following the colt’s third-place finish in the W.R. Cluer Memorial Handicap at Turf Paradise in
“He looked like a nice horse,” Koriner said, “and the race [Breeders’ Cup Turf] looked like it was coming up light. Also, I think he’ll be a nice horse around here.”
Koriner’s assistant and exercise rider Colleen Hartford was in the irons for the work.
Jockey John Velazquez will ride in the Turf on Saturday.
Conduit – The winner of the 2008 Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf cleared quarantine Monday morning and walked around the turf course at 10 a.m.
This year, the 4yo Irish-bred son of Dalakhani won the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July, and comes into Saturday’s race off a steady fourth (beaten 2 ¼ lengths by Sea of Stars) in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 4.
Trainer Michael Stoute is expected to arrive on Tuesday.
Ryan Moore, who rode the colt to victory at Santa Anita last year, will be back in the irons.
Dar Re Mi– Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s 4yo filly arrived at Santa Anita Sunday on the Breeders’ Cup charter from
The daughter of Singspiel trained by John Gosden won three consecutive Group I stakes versus females, the Pretty Polly, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Prix Vermeille, before finishing fifth versus males in Europe’s biggest race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, on October 4.
Monzante – The 5yo gelding jogged on Cushion Track at
The gray/roan son of Maria's Mon worked 7f in 1:28 4/5 at
Monzante is cross-entered in the Dirt Mile but Mitchell said he would run in the Turf at 1 1/2 m, a distance he has never run before.
“I think he'll love it,” said Mitchell. “He got beat a nose going a mile and a quarter in the Whittingham (the 2008 Charles Whittingham Handicap) and was flying at the end.”
Presious Passion – The 6yo gelding by Royal Anthem galloped two miles on the main track Monday morning with regular exercise rider Fernando Espinoza aboard. He completed his serious work for Saturday’s Turf with a 1m drill in 1:39 4/5 here on Oct. 25.
Presious Passion tuned up for the Breeders’ Cup by winning the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on the Santa Anita grass on Oct. 11.
Trainer Mary Hartmann, based in
Regular rider Elvis Trujillo will be aboard Saturday.
Red Rocks – The son of Galileo, who upset the Breeders’ Cup Turf as a 3yo in 2006 at Churchill Downs, remained in quarantine Monday after arriving from
The 6yo, who finished 10th in the Turf here last year when trained by Mark Hennig, is again in the care of Brian Meehan, who saddled the Irish-bred for his Breeders’ Cup score.
This will be the fourth Breeders’ Cup Turf start for Red Rocks, who finished third at Monmouth in 2007 before last year’s Santa Anita try. Frankie Dettori, who has been aboard in all his Breeders’ Cup starts, gets the call again Saturday.
Spanish Moon – The Michael Stoute-trained 5yo by El Prado cleared quarantine Monday morning and was out on the turf course with stablemate Conduit for a leisurely stroll.
Spanish Moon has won two of this three starts this year and was beaten a nose by Eastern Anthem in the Dubai Sheema Classic in his only loss.
Kieran Fallon will be aboard instead of regular rider Ryan Moore in the Turf because this will be the first time Spanish Moon and Conduit will compete against each other.
Summer Bird – see Classic
Telling – According to trainer Steve Hobby, Alex and Jo Ann Lieblong's Turf contender Telling arrived at Santa Anita in good order on Monday following a Tex Sutton flight from
The Turf will mark Hobby's first appearance in a Breeders' Cup race.
Thursday on a firm Churchill Downs turf course with jockey Jesus Castanon aboard, Telling worked a 5f around the dogs in 1:08 1/5. Hobby indicated that the 5yo son of A. P. Indy will gallop up to Saturday's engagement.
“Surprisingly he's a Grade I winner who had never worked on grass in his life," Hobby said. "He was lost out there the first part of it. He got going once he figured it out, and galloped out strong. You can't read much into the time.”
Telling enjoyed a productive '08 campaign, winning four of nine starts en route to banking $149,566, but from a class perspective, he legitimized himself by posting a 33-1 upset in the Aug. 15 Sword Dancer. It was his first and only graded stakes win, and the lone tally from seven starts this season.
“He excels at 12 furlongs,” Hobby said. “We thought about the Sword Dancer last year, but at the time he wasn't training quite right.”
Telling finished fifth in the 1 1/4m Arlington Handicap on July 11, but according to Hobby, the result didn't tell the story of how well he ran.
“He finished really fast that day, and galloped out past everyone,” Hobby said. “He didn't win, but we pretended that he did, and decided he deserved a shot (at the Sword Dancer).”
Settled mid-pack behind a fast pace in the Sword Dancer, Telling rallied to take the lead at the top of the stretch, and held safe to win by two lengths over the multi-millionaire Better Talk Now.
“You couldn't have drawn it up any better,” Hobby said. “It was the thrill of thrills.”
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