Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel finally ended his Breeders’ Cup famine last year when Squirtle Squirt won the $1 million Sprint.
Frankel now appears poised to improve his amazingly dismal 1-for-42 lifetime record in Breeders’ Cup competition.
Denon’s victory in Sunday’s $750,000 Turf Classic at Belmont Park means Frankel probably will head to Arlington Park with the top U.S. candidates in both of the Breeders’ Cup grass races for male horses. Denon looks like the best domestic bet in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, and Arlington Million winner Beat Hollow is America’s No. 1 representative in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Beat Hollow and Denon are expected to be joined at Arlington by several other members of Frankel’s star-studded stable. He plans to run Travers winner Medaglia d’Oro in the $4 million Classic, You in the $2 million Distaff and Surya and Starine in the $1 million Filly and Mare Turf.
Depending on the terms of the recent sale of Squirtle Squirt to Japanese owners to retire at stud in their homeland, he also may have the defending champion back in the Sprint.
Frankel has two others on the maybe list for the Classic–Jockey Club Gold Cup runner-up Lido Palace and Milwaukee Brew, the sixth-place finisher in the same Grade I $1 million race Saturday at Belmont.
Lido Palace would have to be supplemented at a cost of $800,000.
Foreign intrigue: Banks Hill, the French mare and defending champion in the $1 million Filly and Mare Turf, was scratched from last Saturday’s $750,000 Flower Bowl Invitational because of the soft condition of the Belmont grass course. Trainer Andre Fabre is expected to fly to Keeneland for the Winstar Galaxy Stakes.
Since winning her Breeders’ Cup race by 5 1/2 lengths last fall at Belmont, Banks Hill has run against male opponents in all four of her races this year in France and England, all Group I races. She has a win, a close second and a pair of thirds to show for her battles with the boys.
In the absence of Banks Hill, Godolphin Stable’s Kazzia stole the show in the Flower Bowl.
Kazzia and Turtle Bow, who rallied to finish second, will be supplemented to the Filly and Mare Turf. The tab is $90,000 apiece.
Europe’s most prestigious race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, will be run Sunday at Longchamp in Paris, but it isn’t expected to have much of an impact on the Breeders’ Cup entry box this year. Sulamani is the favorite.
Laura’s loaded: Laura de Seroux, 50, is good, which often leads to being lucky. She’s won seven Grade I races this year and handles the top-rated Distaff contender, Azeri, who goes in Wednesday’s Grade II Lady’s Secret at Santa Anita, a race named for the winner of the 1986 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. De Seroux also has a strong contender in the Filly and Mare turf in Dublino.
Monday she picked up another top contender when Ballingary, who romped in Sunday’s $1.5 million Canadian International at Woodbine, was sold to a group headed by Sidney Port.
Ballingary’s victory came on grass over 1 1/2 miles, the same conditions as the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Turf for which Ballingarry is being pointed.
De Seroux could join Jenine Sahadi as the only female trainers to win a Breeders’ Cup race.
More Top Picks Mouse
Big dance: Sure, trainer Joe Orseno wanted Macho Uno to win Sunday’s Grade II Washington Park Handicap at Arlington. But his mission–to get the horse ready for the Classic–was accomplished despite finishing fifth and last.
“It’s a very tough track to ship into, I think, so that’s why I got him here,” Orseno said. “It doesn’t look like we accomplished anything, but we did.
“We’re trying to win the big dance,” said Orseno, also known for his work with 2000 Preakness winner Red Bullet.