- Arrivals Tuesday: The Tex Sutton charter bringing Breeders’ Cup runners to Santa Anita arrived from New York early Tuesday morning with the balance of trainer Todd Pletcher’s near dozen strong team led by Quality Road, Rick Dutrow’s pair of D’Funnybone for the Juvenile and Court Vision to contest the Mile, Gio Ponti to run in the Classic for trainer Christophe Clement and Diamondrella in the Turf Sprint for Angel Penna, Jr.
Ms Vanenzza is scheduled to arrive on a Fed Ex cargo flight from Newark, NJ, later in the day for her engagement in the Juvenile Fillies. The daughter of Successful Appeal is shipping in from Delaware Park for trainer Juan Vasquez.
- Tuesday Workouts:
Santa Anita: Mushka – 3f in 38 3/5; Piscitelli – 4f in 52 3/5; Mambo Meister – 5f in 1:00 2/5; Zip Quik – 5f in 1:00 2/5; Desert Code – 4f turf in 47.
- Mushka – A stakes winner on synthetic and grass surfaces in her last two starts, Mushka breezed 3f in 38 3/5 Tuesday morning with exercise rider Leanna Willford over the main track at Santa Anita in her final official move for Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic.
“We didn’t want to do much on top of the race,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “We just wanted her to feel the track, stretch her legs. She went well.”
Kent Desormeaux will be aboard Mushka, who will be making her 17th career start this week. The 4yo daughter of Empire Maker is 2-for-2 on synthetic surfaces after winning the Spinster at Keeneland via disqualification.
- Piscitelli - Rick Sacco, the brother of trainer Gregg Sacco and the racing manager for owner William Schettine, termed Piscitelli healthy and happy as the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile entrant was getting tacked up to head to the track Tuesday morning.
“The plan is for a two-minute lick,” Sacco said. “He’ll work a half-mile and then pick it up at the end. We’re letting him stretch his legs and gallop out.”
The son of Victory Gallop worked 4f in 52.60 handily under exercise rider Angel Rangel. The effort was the slowest of 16 horses that worked the same distance.
“The work went very well and he did exactly what we wanted; the way we wanted.” Sacco said. “He hit every pole. It was perfect.”
- Mambo Meister – Trainer Phil Gleaves sent Mambo Meister to the Santa Anita main track Tuesday morning for his final serious work for a start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. The son of King Cugat breezed 5f in 1:00 2/5 under exercise rider Simon Harris.
“It was a good work. The exercise rider said he loved it,” Gleaves said. “He drifted a bit the last eighth, but he’s done that before so that doesn’t concern me.”
Mambo Meister, who secured a berth in the Dirt Mile with his victory in the Spend a Buck Handicap over Calder’s dirt track and is graded-stakes placed on turf, has never run over a synthetic surface. Tuesday’s workout gave his connections confidence that he’ll handle the Santa Anita surface, and perhaps relish it even more than dirt or grass.
“That’s what we’re hoping: that he loves this surface more than the others,” Gleaves said.
South Florida-based jockey Manoel Cruz, who has won aboard Mambo Meister the last three times he’s ridden him, gets the return call for the Dirt Mile.
- Zip Quik – The 2yo son of City Zip was put through his final workout for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Tuesday morning when he covered 5f in 1:00 2/5 handily with Mike Smith in the irons. The work was the sixth fastest of the 32 horses who worked at the distance.
“The work was very good. I am very happy with the work and the way he moved,” trainer Patrick Biancone said.
Smith is scheduled to ride Zip Quik for the first time in the Juvenile Turf. The son of City Zip has been idle since his sixth-place finish in the Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7.
- Desert Code – With regular rider Richard Migliore in the irons, the 5yo son of E Dubai sent a message to his Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint rivals that he’s ready to defend his 2008 championship with a sharp 4f work in 47 flat on the Santa Anita turf, a course that has proved to be a favorite of the David Hofmans trainee.
“He did it okay,” Hofmans said. “He looked like he was finishing really well.”
Hofmans noted that the horse was reaching out strongly as he came to the wire.
“I believe he’s coming into this race even better than he was last year,” the trainer added with a grin.
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