Brassy Boy

CAPT. CANDYMAN CAN TO HAVE FINAL BREEDERS’ CUP WORK SUNDAY – Trainer Ian Wilkes said that Joseph Rauch and David Zell’s Capt. Candyman Can is scheduled for his final work before the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (Grade I) on Sunday and then ship to Santa Anita the next day.

Capt. Candyman Can, who won the first of his four graded-stakes victories in last fall’s Iroquois (GIII) here, has been training at the Skylight Training Center in Goshen over the Pro-Ride synthetic track, similar to what he will run on at Santa Anita.

“He has had two works since the Phoenix (GIII) and is doing well,” Wilkes said of the 3-year-old gelding who ran second to Fatal Bullet in the Phoenix on Oct. 9 at Keeneland. “He will probably work Sunday and then ship Monday.”

Wilkes’ other top 3-year-old in the barn, Warrior’s Reward, has been galloping at Churchill Downs after running fifth as the favorite in the Perryville (GIII) at Keeneland on Oct. 17. After the race, jockey Calvin Borel got off Warrior’s Reward in the first turn and the colt was unsaddled there.

“We are just keeping an eye on him; hopefully all it was just a bad step (in the race),” Wilkes said of Warrior’s Reward, who is owned by A. Stevens Miles Jr. “He is galloping now and I’m not sure (when he’ll run next).”

ROMANS EYES POCAHONTAS REPEAT WITH SASSY IMAGE – Trainer Dale Romans unleashed a true “Star of Tomorrow” in the 2008 Pocahontas when Sara Louise romped to victory by 3 ¾ lengths over Rachel Alexandra.

On Sunday, he hopes history repeats itself when he saddles Jerry Romans’ Sassy Image in the 41st running of the Grade III event for 2-year-old fillies.

“This time last year, Sara Louise was starting to move forward and I hope Sassy Image does the same,” Romans said.

Sassy Image has some big hoofprints to follow in. Sara Louise ran second behind Rachel Alexandra in last year’s Golden Rod (GII) and this year has won the Grade III Victory Ride at Saratoga and was second behind champion Indian Blessing in the Grade II Gallant Bloom at Belmont. Next Friday she will be competing in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (GI) at Santa Anita for Godolphin Racing and trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

Sara Louise came into last year’s Pocahontas off a maiden score. Sassy Image, a maiden winner here in June, finished eighth in her most recent start in the Darley Alcibiades (GI) at Keeneland on Oct. 9 after enduring a wide trip.

“She likes this track and she has been training well,” Romans said of Sassy Image, who worked a bullet half-mile of :47.80 in her first work back after the Alcibiades.

Romans will have one Breeders’ Cup starter in Frank Jones Jr.’s Tapitsfly, who is already at Santa Anita. A maiden winner at Saratoga, Tapitsfly won the P.G. Johnson on grass at Saratoga and is pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Robby Albarado has the mount.

Romans also reported that Mark Stanley’s Swift Temper remains on track for a run in the Nov. 26 Falls City Handicap (GII). Tenth as the favorite in the Juddmonte Spinster (GI) over Keeneland’s Polytrack surface, Swift Temper worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 on Sunday.

WIGGINS HOPING TO FINISH WITH A FLOURISH – Hal Wiggins hit the apex of his training career this spring when he saddled Rachel Alexandra to her resounding victory in the Kentucky Oaks (GI).

He hopes the final month on the backside gets off to a rousing start on Sunday when he sends out Brassy Boy in the 28th running of the Iroquois (GIII) for longtime client Millsap Stables.

Wiggins, who has 20 horses stabled here, is retiring at the end of the meet on Nov. 28, two days before his 67th birthday.

“It is starting to sink in a little bit,” Wiggins said. “It will probably hit me on the 28th when I get ready to turn another year older. I’m going to go to Houston. My wife, Renee, is already there.

“I am still going to go to sales and still be involved in it because I love the game so much. I don’t want to quit cold turkey.”

Brassy Boy won his first two starts during the spring meet and then ran third in the Bashford Manor (GIII).

“I gave him a month off after the Bashford Manor,” Wiggins said. “He came back at Louisiana Downs (on Oct. 3 in the Razorback Futurity) and ran OK. He was just second best that day.”

The horse that beat Brassy Boy that day, Comedero, also is considered a likely Iroquois starter.
    “I hope Brassy Boy likes a mile better than the other colt,” Wiggins said.

BARN TALK – Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan came out of her five-furlong breeze of Tuesday in good order according to Betsy Couch, assistant to trainer Bob Holthus. “She ate up everything last night and is in good form this morning,” Couch said. Winner of the Flower Bowl (GI) in her most recent start on Oct. 3, Pure Clan worked five-eighths in 1:01.40 on Tuesday, her second five-furlong work since the Flower Bowl in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) to be run Friday, Nov. 6 at Santa Anita. Pure Clan is scheduled to have a light breeze Sunday morning and ship to California on Monday.

Trainer Ken McPeek said that Anthony Bonomo Jr.’s Connie and Michael would ship to California on Saturday for a start in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI) on Nov. 6. Connie and Michael broke her maiden at first asking on Oct. 17 at Keeneland going seven furlongs by 7 ¾ lengths from the No. 12 post position. McPeek hoped to have another Keeneland maiden winner on the plane in Fist of Rage, but that colt was sixth on the preference list for the over-subscribed Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (GI) to be run Nov. 7.

West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again, winner of this year’s Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) here and runner-up to Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward (GI), is on track for a start in the Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII) on Nov. 27 according to trainer Dallas Stewart. A cough last week knocked Macho Again out of a possible start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI).

G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and the Louise Ireland Humphrey Revocable Trust-2008’s One Caroline is scheduled to return to the races in the 24th running of the Chilukki (GII) on Nov. 7. Trained by Rusty Arnold, One Caroline is scheduled to work at Keeneland on Sunday and then ship to Churchill Downs midweek for her first start since running second to Miss Isella in the Louisville Distaff (GII) on May 1. One Caroline will be ridden in the Chilukki by Leandro Goncalves.

WORK TAB – Centaur Farms’ Yes It’s Valid, considered a possible starter for Sunday’s Pocahontas, worked a half-mile Wednesday morning over a “muddy” track in :50.20 for trainer Merrill Scherer.

Gold Mark Farm’s Backtalk, an impressive debut winner, and Millsap Stables’ homebred Brassy Boy, unbeaten in two career starts, head a field of nine 2-year-olds entered for  Friday’s 108th running of the Bashford Manor (Grade III) at Churchill Downs.

    The six-furlong test on the main track will be the 10th race on Friday’s 11-race card that opens with a 2:45 p.m. (all times EDT) first post time. Post time for the Bashford Manor is 7:24 p.m.

    A $250,000 purchase as a yearling, Backtalk rallied wide from off the pace to win at first asking by 2 ¾ lengths over nine rivals in a five-furlong race on June 11. Backtalk is from the second crop of foals by 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones and a half-brother to graded stakes winner Bsharpsonata.

    Tom Amoss, who trained 2002 Bashford Manor winner Lone Star Sky, trains Backtalk, who tuned up for the Bashford Manor with a half-mile work in :50 on Tuesday over a fast track. Miguel Mena will ride Backtalk and break from post position five.

    Brassy Boy broke his maiden for a $30,000 claiming tag going 4 ½ furlongs at Churchill Downs on May 29.  He then won a five-furlong allowance test on June 11 over a strong field that included Bashford Manor rivals Soundman and Flatter Than Me.

    Trained by Hal Wiggins, Brassy Boy is an Arkansas-bred by Storm and a Half out of the Dixie Brass mare Brass Doll. Brassy Boy, who worked three furlongs in :36.80 on Tuesday morning, is the fifth foal of Brass Doll and a full brother to stakes winners Brassie Prince and Doll and a Half.

    Corey Lanerie, who won the 2007 Bashford Manor aboard Kodiak Kowboy, has the call on Brassy Boy, who will break from post three under top weight of 120 pounds.

    Soundman, who has a record of 1-1-1 in three races, is one of two Bashford Manor contenders trained by D. Wayne Lukas, the Hall of Fame trainer who has won the Bashford Manor a record five times.  Lukas will also saddle Westrock Gold.

    Two other trainers with multiple Bashford Manor wins, Steve Asmussen and Todd Pletcher, will shoot for their third victories in the race. Asmussen sends out Grand Slam Andre and Pletcher will be represented by Mission Impazible.

    The field for the Bashford Manor, from the rail out, is as follows: Grand Slam Andre (Shaun Bridgmohan, 118 pounds), Westrock Gold (Julien Leparoux, 118), Brassy Boy (Corey Lanerie, 120), Mission Impazible (John Velazquez, 118), Backtalk (Miguel Mena, 118), Even Wilder (Jon Court, 116), Soundman (Jamie Theriot, 118), Vito Filitto (Calvin Borel, 116) and Flatter Than Me (Robby Albarado, 118).

THERIOT EAGER TO RETURN TO THE RACES ON MONDAY – Jockey Jamie Theriot will resume riding on Monday at Indiana Downs following the conclusion of a 30-day suspension stemming from a May 23 incident at Arlington Park.

    “The only time I have been idle longer is when I have been hurt,” said Theriot. “I have never been out this long for a suspension.”

    The 30-year-old Theriot is scheduled to ride three races on Monday night and six on Tuesday night at Indiana Downs and then ride the final four days of the Churchill Downs meet that closes Sunday, July 5.

    Saturday morning was a typical one for Theriot during his suspension.

    “I worked 11 horses this morning and I have been averaging between seven and 10 to 11 a day,” Theriot said. “Fitness-wise, I am ready.”

BASHFORD MANOR FIELD TAKING SHAPE – Six 2-year-old colts are considered as probable starters for Friday’s 108th running of the Bashford Manor Stakes (Grade III) at six furlongs on the main track.

    Of the six, three faced off in a five-furlong allowance race on June 11 won by the Millsap Stables’ unbeaten homebred Brassy Boy. Trained by Hal Wiggins, Brassy Boy won his debut outing in a $30,000 claiming race  4 ½ furlongs on May 29 before coming back to defeat the likes of probable Bashford Manor starters Soundman, who finished third, and Flatter Than Me, who ran fourth.

    Other probable starters include the undefeated Backtalk, a half-brother to graded stakes winner Bsharpsonata, who broke his maiden in his first start on June 11, Westrock Gold, a maiden winner on June 20, and Mission Impazible, a maiden winner at Keeneland who ran third in the Grade III Kentucky Juvenile on April 30 at Churchill Downs.

    Entries will be taken Tuesday.
    
JOHN KELLY DOES JOHN KELLY WARREN PROUD – Trainer David Carroll closed out the second edition of “Downs After Dark” Friday night in grand style when he sent out John Kelly to a 2 ¼-length maiden score in the 11th race.

    So, the question Saturday morning was, “Who is John Kelly?”

    “He is named for Mr. Warren’s son, John Kelly Warren,” Carroll said, referring to the colt’s owner William K. Warren Jr.

    The 3-year-old son of Seattle Fitz was purchased at the 2008 Barretts March Sale for $600,000 and has been in Carroll’s barn since last year. However, John Kelly did not make his racing debut until last month.

    “He has just had some growing pains,” Carroll said. “But he does have talent and he’ll probably go to Saratoga.”

    In 2008, Carroll trained Denis of Cork for Warren with the colt finishing third in the Kentucky Derby (Grade I) and second in the Belmont Stakes (Grade I). Warren named the colt after Father Denis Casey, a priest from County Cork, Ireland.

    The Carroll barn will be trying to strike out of town next weekend when Helen Alexander’s Selva runs in the $300,000 Prioress (Grade I) for 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park on Saturday.

    “She leaves Tuesday for Belmont Park,” Carroll said of Selva, a three-time stakes winner who has compiled a record of 6-4-2-0. Selva’s most recent race was the Beaumont (Grade II) at Keeneland on April 8 in which she finished second.

MISSION IMPAZIBLE PLETCHER’S HOPE FOR THIRD BASHFORD MANOR – The Spring Meet has been iceberg cold for the Todd Pletcher barn, but that does mean it is “Mission Impossible” for a strong finish after a 1-for-36 start.

Make that Mission Impazible.

Owned by Twin Creeks Racing Stable, Mission Impazible should be one of the favorites in Friday’s Bashford Manor Stakes for Pletcher, who won the race in 2003 with Limestone and in 2006 with Circular Quay.

A son of Unbridled’s Song, Mission Impazible turned in his final work for the Bashford Manor with a half-mile work in :47.80 over a fast track Saturday morning, the fourth best of 67 at the distance. Mission Impazible has not run since finishing third in the Kentucky Juvenile (Grade III) on April 30.

“He has been doing extremely well since his last race,” said Mike McCarthy, who runs Pletcher’s Churchill Downs string. “We did the same thing with Garden District last year and this race was the goal all along.”
Garden District ran second to males in the Kentucky Juvenile and came back eight weeks later to win the Debutante, defeating a group of fillies that included runner-up Rachel Alexandra, who is now among the frontrunners for “Horse of the Year” honors after her 20 ¼-length win in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) and her historic win over Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Mine That Bird and other males in the Preakness (GI).
One horse in the Pletcher barn on the comeback trail is Team Valor International’s King of the Roxy. A two-time Grade II stakes winner, King of the Roxy has not run since April 2008 and rejoined the barn last month.

“He is going to work Sunday,” McCarthy said of the 5-year-old who has had three works since coming back. “He is about a month away from running and he could possibly go to Saratoga.”
    
BARN TALK – Calvin Borel was blanked on the Friday night card and remained three wins (56-53) behind Julien Leparoux in the battle for leading rider of the Spring Meet.  Leparoux missed Friday’s “Downs After Dark” program to ride in stakes races at Prairie Meadows. Borel will be in New York on Saturday to ride Rachel Alexandra in the Mother Goose (Grade I) while Leparoux returns to Churchill Downs and has nine mounts on the 11-race card. Both riders will be here Sunday with Leparoux named on eight mounts and Borel seven.

Belmont Stakes (Grade I) winner Summer Bird will make a brief return to Churchill Downs on Thursday. Trainer Tim Ice is vanning Summer Bird from his home base at Louisiana Downs to Monmouth Park for the Aug. 2 Haskell Invitational (Grade I).

“We are going to stop over there for about 10 hours and then get back on the road that night,” said Ice, who expects to arrive at Churchill Downs around 10 o’clock Thursday morning and be housed in the Stakes Barn (Barn 17). “He had his first work since the Belmont this morning and he went nice and easy (five furlongs in 1:04.42). He’s a happy horse right now and we want to keep him that way.”

Summer Bird finished sixth to Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby, but turned the tables on that rival in the Belmont.

    Weights for the 19th running of the $150,000-added Firecracker Handicap (Grade II) will be released Saturday with the race scheduled to headline the Fourth of July holiday card.

    Weights for the 28th running of the $100,000-added Locust Grove Handicap (Grade III) for fillies and mares will be released Sunday. The Locust Grove serves as the feature on Sunday, July 5, closing day of the 45-day Spring Meet.

WORK TAB – Stephen Foster Handicap (Grade I) winner Macho Again worked a half-mile in :50.80 over a fast track. The fastest half-mile works of 67 came from the Eddie Kenneally duo of Keep the Peace and Custom for Carlos, who covered the distance in :47.20. Also working a half-mile was Flying Private, who covered the distance in :53.40 in his second work since finishing sixth in the Belmont Stakes.

CITIZEN JOHN DELIVERS MILESTONE DOWNS VICTORY FOR VANCE – Trainer David Vance and owner Carl Pollard have been a team for more than 15 years, so it was probably fitting that a Pollard-owned horse, Citizen John, presented the veteran trainer with his 300th triumph at Churchill Downs and his 3,012th win overall.

“That made it special,” Vance said Saturday morning. “He has always been a one of my major supporters and very much so lately.”

Vance currently has 17 horses in his barn, which is overseen by his daughter Tricia. The trainer continues to recover from injuries suffered on Dec. 9, 2007, when his truck hydroplaned on a slick interstate highway while transporting horses to Northern Kentucky’s Turfway Park from Churchill Downs.

“I get here at 7:15 every morning and watch my horses from the third floor and then I am back at the barn until about 11:30,” said Vance, whose mobility is limited to a wheelchair because of the injury to his C-4 vertebra. “I am making a little progress, but not as much as I would like.”

What keeps any trainer going is the prospect of having a good 2-year-old in the barn and the prospects are there for Vance, now 68.

“We have four 2-year-olds in here now and one may start next week,” Vance said. “We have one more coming in July 1 and two more the first of September.”

Vance’s biggest victory at Churchill Downs came in 2000 when Caressing won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (Grade I) for Pollard.  Caressing was named champion 2-year-old filly that year and is Vance’s only Eclipse Award champion.  

Vance, one of 22 North American trainers with more than 3,000 victories, has won three Churchill Downs training titles outright, the 1980 and ’81 Spring Meets and the 1994 Fall Meet, and shared the 1967 spring title.
    
BOREL CONTINUES TO MOVE UP CHURCHILL DOWNS CHARTS – Two-time Kentucky Derby winner Calvin Borel’s spectacular spring added another chapter Friday when he won two races to give him a total of 926 victories at Churchill Downs.

That makes Borel the No. 2 all-time leading rider beneath the Twin Spires as he surpassed Don Brumfield, the 1996 Hall of Fame inductee who rode 925 winners at Churchill Downs.

“I really didn’t know what was going on,” Borel said of a winner’s circle ceremony that included the presentation of a placard signifying the milestone victory. “It’s just been unbelievable. The last eight, nine, 10 years have just been unbelievable.”

Brumfield won 12 riding titles at Churchill Downs during his career compared to two for Borel.  He won the 1966 Kentucky Derby aboard Kauai King.

“This is a major accomplishment considering the only titles he won were in the fall,” said Jerry Hissam, Borel’s agent. Borel, who began riding regularly at Churchill Downs in the fall of 1995, won the title outright in 1999 and shared it in 2006 with Shaun Bridgmohan.  Along with this year’s Derby win on Mine That Bird, Borel won the 2007 “Run for the Roses” aboard Street Sense.

The all-time Churchill Downs’ leader in victories is Pat Day, who rode 2,482 winners. Borel, who has averaged a little more than 60 victories a year during his career at Churchill Downs, would have to maintain that pace for another 25 years to get in Day’s neighborhood.

“I think Pat will hold that records for a while,” Hissam said.
 
BACKTALK SPEAKS ELOQUENTLY IN CAREER DEBUT – A possible star of the future may have appeared Thursday afternoon when Gold Mark Farm’s Backtalk won his career debut by 2 ¾ lengths over a field of 2-year-old runners sporting high quality pedigrees.

    “He has earned the right to stay here,” trainer Tom Amoss said of Backtalk, who had put together a string of impressive works at Arlington Park. “He ran well and we’ll look to go to the Bashford Manor (Grade III on July 3).”

    Backtalk was purchased for $250,000 at the 2008 Keeneland September Sale for Gold Mark.

    “I didn’t have anything to do with the purchase,” Amoss said. “Todd Quast and his wife (Lori) picked him out and they are good at it. Initially (Backtalk) went to Gold Mark Farm and that is Polytrack, so we thought the transition would be easier taking him to Arlington.”

    Backtalk is a half-brother to two-time graded-stakes winner Bsharpsonata, who ran fifth in last year’s Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) and also won her career debut as a 2-year-old. They are the only two foals of the Affirmed mare Apasionata Sonata.

    “We would have liked to have named him Bsmartsonata, but couldn’t get it,” Amoss said of Backtalk, a son of 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones.

BRASSY BOY GIVES WIGGINS AN UNEXPECTED TREAT – It has been a roller coaster spring for trainer Hal Wiggins, from the high of Rachel Alexandra’s historic romp in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) to the low of having the best horse he has trained sold shortly after that triumph.

    The ride may be heading back up for Wiggins with a 2-year-old colt named Brassy Boy, who improved to 2-for-2 with a neck victory in a Thursday allowance race.

    “I told my wife that I’d be happy if he ran fourth,” said Wiggins of the colt who broke his maiden for a $30,000 claiming tag on May 29 at Churchill Downs. “I may nominate him to the Bashford Manor and see how strong it will be. I am sure some of those in Thursday were prepping for it.”

    Owned by Betty and Leon Millsap, Brassy Boy is an Arkansas-bred son of Storm and a Half out of the Dixie Brass mare Brass Doll.

    “We got him right when we left Hot Springs to come up here,” Wiggins said. “David Whited gets them ready for us. I have had all of the mare’s foals and they are all solid horses.”

    Brassy Boy is the fifth foal for Brass Doll, who has produced two stakes winners in Brassie Prince and Doll and a Half from matings with Storm and a Half, a son of Storm Cat. Brass Doll’s other two foals also were sired by Storm and a Half.

BARN TALK – The final sets of temporary lights have been moved into place in the infield and horsemen will get a chance Monday and Tuesday for a dry run under those lights in advance of Friday’s first “Downs After Dark” night racing card. Training hours will begin at 5 a.m. (EDT) on Monday and Tuesday. Other night cards are scheduled for Friday, June 26 and Thursday, July 2.

Expected to work under the lights Monday is Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) and Preakness Stakes (Grade I) winner Rachel Alexandra. On Saturday morning, Rachel Alexandra back-tracked to the front side and then went 1 ½ times around the main track under exercise rider Dominic Terry.

Mine That Bird, winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI), back-tracked once around on Saturday morning under exercise rider Charlie Figueroa.

“He actually jogged a little bit this morning,” trainer Chip Woolley said. “The other day he just wanted to buck and play. He’ll walk tomorrow and then jog again Monday.”

Mine That Bird finished second to Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness (GI) and third to Summer Bird in last week’s Belmont Stakes (GI), the third and final jewel of the Triple Crown.  Woolley said Friday that his Kentucky Derby winner would likely run this summer in the Aug. 1 West Virginia Derby (GII) and the Aug. 29 Shadwell Travers (GI).

Nominations close Saturday for the 109th running of the Debutante (Grade III) for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs on the main track on June 27. Garden District won the 2008 Debutante by a half-length over Rachel Alexandra.

    Next Saturday, June 20, will be the deadline for nominations for the final three stakes of the Spring Meet. Closing that day will be the $100,000-added Bashford Manor (Grade III) for 2-year-olds going six furlongs on July 3, the $150,000-added Firecracker Handicap (Grade II) at a mile on the Matt Winn Turf Course for 3-year-olds and up on July 4, and the $100,000-added Locust Grove Handicap (Grade III) for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up also going a mile on the turf on closing day July 5.

WORK TAB – Fred Bradley’s Brass Hat, winner of the May 23 Louisville Handicap (Grade III) returned to the tab on Saturday morning by working five furlongs in 1:00.40 for trainer Buff Bradley. The move over the fast track was the second fastest of 29 at the distance. Helen Groves and Helen Alexander’s stakes-winning filly Selva worked the same distance in 1:00.80, third fastest of the morning, for trainer David Carroll. Lawrence Carroll’s Bold Start, winner of the May 30 Aristides (Grade III), worked a half-mile in :48 for trainer Ken McPeek. It was the sixth best of 55 at the distance.