Hot Cha Cha

Nelson McMakin’s Hot Cha Cha, winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (Grade I) at Keeneland on Oct. 17, and Waratah Thoroughbreds’ Miss World, winner of the Garden City (GI) at Belmont Park on Sept. 12, top an overflow field of 17 3-year-old fillies entered Wednesday for Saturday’s 19th running of the $175,000-added Mrs. Revere (GII).

The Mrs. Revere, run at 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course, will go as the ninth race on Saturday’s 10-race program that has a first post time of 12:40 p.m. (all times EST). Post time for the Mrs. Revere is 4:37 p.m.

Trained by Phil Sims, Hot Cha Cha took the QE II by 4 ½ lengths under James Graham, who will be aboard Saturday and break from post position seven. Prior to the Keeneland victory, Hot Cha Cha won the Grade III Pucker Up at Arlington Park.  Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia installed the daughter of Cactus Ridge was installed as the 3-1 morning line favorite for the Mrs. Revere.

Miss World, trained by Christophe Clement, finished fourth in the QE II in her first start since winning the Garden City. Rajiv Maragh has the return call on Miss World, the 4-1 second choice in the morning line who will break from position three. Both Hot Cha Cha and Miss World will carry 123 pounds and concede 4-6 pounds to their rivals.

Barbara Hunter’s Keertana, the 8-1 co-third choice and winner of the Regret (GIII) here in June, will attempt to become the first filly to win the Regret and Mrs. Revere. Trained by Tom Proctor, Keertana will break from post position 11 under 119 pounds and be ridden by Jesus Castanon.  Among the fillies Keertana defeated in the Regret was Mrs. Revere rival Hot Cha Cha, who ran a close third that day.

Also listed at 8-1 is Three Chimneys Racing, LLC’s Miss Keller (IRE), a daughter of Montjeu who just missed last time out as the runner-up to Eye of Taurus in a division of Keeneland’s Valley View (GIII).  Jockey Eurico Da Silva will return to the saddle aboard Miss Keller, an Irish import who makes her third start in North America for trainer Roger Attfield, a member of Canada’s Racing Hall of Fame.

The field for the Mrs. Revere, from the hedge out (with jockey, weight and morning line odds), is as follows: C.S. Silk (F. Torres, 117 pounds, 10-1), Kiawah Cat (S. Bridgmohan, 117, 15-1), Miss World (R. Maragh, 123, 4-1), Striking Dancer (R. Albarado, 117, 12-1), Mary’s Follies (K. Desormeaux, 117, 10-1), War Kill (J. Court, 117, 20-1), Hot Cha Cha (J. Graham, 123, 3-1), Bluegrass Princess (J. Velazquez, 117, 12-1), Romacaca (E. Baird, 117, 10-1), Miss Keller (Ire) (E. Da Silva, 117, 8-1), Keertana (J. Castanon, 119, 8-1), Redreamit (C. Borel, 117, 20-1), Obsequious (W. Martinez, 117, 30-1) and Single Solution (E. Perez, 117, 30-1). The also eligibles are Aaroness (S. Bridgmohan, 117, 30-1), Alice’s Smart (L. Goncalves, 117, 30-1) and Bum Bum (Fr) (C. Borel, 117, 30-1).

The main story line surrounding Saturday’s running of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Grade I) at Santa Anita is whether the undefeated Zenyatta can beat the boys.
    It was odds-on that in a sampling of Churchill Downs trainers Friday morning that opinions ran in many directions.
    “I think Zenyatta will love the mile and a quarter,” said Carl Nafzger, who won the 1990 Classic with Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled. “I think she will do it. Getting through the traffic will be her biggest problem.”
    “Zenyatta is a good filly and she loves those synthetic tracks,” Forrest Kaelin said. “She runs her race every time, but she will have to step it up a little more and I think she will on that surface. You don’t know about the others.”
    “I probably should pull for Zenyatta,” said Lynn Whiting, who saddled Lil E. Tee to win the 1992 Kentucky Derby. “But I think she will have a tough time with those boys. It is a big field (13), and with her running style … those boys aren’t going to lie down for her.”
    Paul McGee went in a different direction.
    “I don’t think she wins it,” McGee said. “I am looking at Gio Ponti and Regal Ransom. And Mine That Bird, I think he is going to run a good race and I will have him in my tri ticket.”
    Locally based Einstein, trained by Helen Pitts-Blasi, had his backers.
    “I hope Helen wins it,” Scooter Dickey said.
    “I like Einstein, because I have seen him so much,” said Buff Bradley, whose stable star Brass Hat has run against Einstein several times and is stabled in the barn next to Einstein.
    “I like our horse, Einstein,” said Hal Wiggins, who trained leading Horse of the Year candidate Rachel Alexandra to a Kentucky Oaks victory. “It’s a good field and should be a very interesting race.”
    Dallas Stewart, whose Stephen Foster (GI) winner Macho Again was knocked out of Breeders’ Cup consideration by a cough, liked a trio of horses, Zenyatta, Einstein and Summer Bird.
    Summer Bird, sixth in the Kentucky Derby behind Mine That Bird before winning the Belmont (GI), Travers (GI) and Jockey Club Gold Cup, had a supporter in Jinks Fires.
    “I’d like to see Summer Bird win it,” Fires said. “Tim Ice has done a great job with him and the owners (Drs. K.K. and Vilasini Jayaraman) have invested a lot in the business and been good for the game.”

CLEAR SKIES WELCOME SIGHT FOR JONESBORO – The prospect of a fast track for today’s 17th running of the Grade III Ack Ack Handicap was music to the ears of trainer Randy Morse for his veteran campaigner Jonesboro.
“He hates the mud,” Morse said of the 7-year-old, who is owned by Michael Langford.
But mud is what he got in his most recent start, a seventh-place finish in the Hawthorne Gold Cup (GII) that represented Jonesboro’s worst showing of 2009.
“It had rained for part of the day and began to clear up and it looked like we were going to OK, but then about 30 minutes before the race it just poured,” Morse said.
Since the Gold Cup, Jonesboro has put in two solid half-mile works at his home base at Remington Park and shipped to Churchill Downs on Thursday. It was a homecoming of sorts for Jonesboro, who has won five graded stakes in his six-year, 42-race career.
“He has trained here a lot and probably put a million miles in over this track,” said Morse, who for many years was a regular member of the Churchill Downs backstretch. “He just hasn’t run here that much.”
Jonesboro’s record at Churchill Downs is 4-0-1-0 with his most recent start here coming in the 2008 Stephen Foster (GI) when he finished sixth behind Horse of the Year Curlin.
A good showing in the Ack Ack could prompt an encore appearance before the end of the meet.
“The Clark (Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare) is an option if he runs good today,” Morse said referring to the Grade II test to be run Nov. 27. “Also it will depend on who else goes in there.”

QE II WINNER HOT CHA CHA TOPS PROBABLES FOR MRS. REVERE – Nelson McMakin’s Hot Cha Cha, winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (GI) at Keeneland on Oct. 17 in her most recent start, headlines a list of 10 probables for the 19th running of the $175,000-added Mrs. Revere (GII) for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday, Nov. 14.
    In addition to Hot Cha Cha, who also won the Grade III Pucker Up at Arlington Park on Sept. 7, three other Grade III stakes winners on the turf in 2009 are on the probables list, according to Churchill Downs Vice President of Racing Donnie Richardson.
The trio includes Dell Ridge Farm’s Bluegrass Princess, winner of a division of the Valley View at Keeneland on Oct. 23 in her most recent start, Barbara Hunter’s Keertana, winner of the Regret at Churchill Downs on June 13 and Paul Pompa Jr.’s Mary’s Follies, winner of the Boiling Springs on June 27 at Monmouth Park.
    Another probable is William Pacella, George Bonomo and Fred Barbara’s C.S. Silk, winner of the Grade III Arlington-Washington Lassie on Polytrack in 2008.
    Other probables are June Judd’s Aaroness, Jess Yawitz and Gary Zwerling’s Alice’s Smart, Andrew Farm, Connie Scanlon and Frank O’Connor’s Obsequious, Brereton Jones’ Silver Reunion and Lothenbach Stables’ Single Solution. Considered as “possible” for the race is NP Bloodstock’s Bum Bum (Fr).
    Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race to be contested over the Matt Winn Turf Course will be taken Wednesday.

FLORENTINO HEADLINES PROBABLES FOR COMMONWEALTH TURF – Darley Stable’s Florentino (Jpn), winner of the Grade II Jefferson Cup here at Churchill Downs in June, is among seven 3-year-olds considered as “probable” for the sixth running of the $100,000-added Commonwealth Turf (GIII) scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 15 at 1 1/16 miles over the Matt Winn Turf Course.
    Should Florentino prove successful on his return to Churchill Downs, he would join Inca King in 2007 as the only horse to win the Jefferson Cup and Commonwealth Turf.
    Other graded stakes winners on the turf on the probables list of Donnie Richardson, Churchill Downs Vice President of Racing, are Sullimar Stables’ Get Stormy and William Stiritz’s Proceed Bee.
    Get Stormy won Keeneland’s Bryan Station (GIII) on Oct. 18 in his most recent start and Proceed Bee, in his previous outing, won the Grade III Hawthorne Derby at Hawthorne Park. Proceed Bee also won the Grand Canyon, an overnight turf stake, here last fall on closing day.
    Other Commonwealth Turf probables are Hugh Robertson’s Grizzled Robert, Richard Shultz’s Major Marvel, Red Dog Stables’ Perfect Bull and Marilyn Seltzer’s Spectacular Kid.
    Entries for the Commonwealth Turf will be taken on Thursday.

BARN TALK – Elusive Sparkle, half-sister to 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, ran her last race on Thursday according to trainer Carl Nafzger. Elusive Sparkle, a 4-year-old daughter of Elusive Quality, finished ninth in the eighth race to end her career with a record of 18-2-4-3 for earnings of $112,028 for owner James Tafel. “One retired yesterday and one debuts today,” Nafzger said, referring to Broadway Ticket, a 3-year-old half-sister to Street Sense. Broadway Ticket, a daughter of Distorted Humor out of Bedazzle, is owned by Randall Bloch, John Seiler and Robert Manfuso. She is in the seventh race.

PURE CLAN HAS LIGHT DRILL FOR BREEDERS’ CUP FILLY & MARE TURF – Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan put in her final major move for her start in Friday’s $2 million Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade I)  at Santa Anita by working three furlongs in :37.60 over a “fast” track early Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.

With regular morning partner Steve Schmelzel aboard, Pure Clan was on the track at 6:15. Trainer Bob Holthus watched from his usual backstretch viewing stand and expressed satisfaction with the move.
    “It was a nice little work,” Holthus said. “She will load in the morning about 4 and when she gets to Santa Anita, she will gallop on the turf Wednesday and Thursday morning.

Garrett Gomez will have the mount on Pure Clan, who turned in her only off-the-board finish in 15 starts with a 10th-place finish in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, which was also run at Oak Tree at Santa Anita.

“We are on the same schedule as last year,” Holthus said. “She had her last work before the race here and then shipped out. I know it was awful hot last year out there and that could have affected her.”

Temperatures were in the mid-90s last year for the Breeders’ Cup, but the long-range forecast for Arcadia, Calif., on Friday calls for a high of 81.

CAPT. CANDYMAN CAN PUTS IN FINAL WORK FOR BREEDERS’ CUP SPRINT – David Zell and the late Joseph Rauch’s Capt. Candyman Can worked a half-mile in :48.40 under jockey Freddy Lenclud on Sunday morning at the Skylight Training Center.

“It was a good work. I was happy with him,” trainer Ian Wilkes said of the move that was accomplished over a Pro-Ride surface that is similar to the one Capt. Candyman Can will run on Saturday at Santa Anita in the $2 million Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI).

“He will leave from Skylight and go straight to the plane in the morning,” Wilkes said. “He may go to the track at Santa Anita on Tuesday; I’ll want to see how he travels.”

A four-time stakes winner this year, Capt. Candyman Can finished second to Fatal Bullet in his most recent start in the Phoenix (GIII) at Keeneland on Oct. 8 over the Polytrack.  The 3-year-old Candy Ride gelding is a two-time stakes winner at Churchill Downs, with wins in the Matt Win earlier this year and last fall’s Iroquois (GIII).

DENIS OF CORK RETURNS TO DAVID CARROLL’S BARN – Denis of Cork, who ran third in the 2008 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) and followed that with a runner-up effort in the Belmont Stakes (GI) has returned to the barn of trainer David Carroll.

“He is back galloping,” Carroll said. “He got back about a month and a half ago. We jogged him the first month and now he is galloping. We are delighted to have him back.”

Owned by Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren Jr., Denis of Cork went on the shelf in the summer of 2008 when Carroll found the start of a hairline fracture in the colt’s left hind ankle. Denis of Cork was turned out at a farm in Ocala, Fla., and this January suffered an injury to his right front suspensory.

“It took us that long to get him back,” Carroll said. “We are just taking it day to day and I can’t even tell you when he’ll breeze. We are just trying to put a foundation back in him.”

When the Fall Meet ends here Nov. 28, Carroll will take Denis of Cork with the rest of his stables to New Orleans and the Fair Grounds meet.

Another standout for Carroll, the 4-year-old filly Acoma, may resurface in the $100,000-added Cardinal Handicap (GIII) at 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course.

A three-time graded-stakes winner at Churchill Downs, Acoma had her perfect record at Kentucky tracks end in her most recent start, a ninth-place finish in the First Lady (GI) at Keeneland on Oct. 10.

“She had trained well for the First Lady, but she caught soft turf and didn’t run at all,” Carroll said of Acoma, who had won all six of her previous starts in Kentucky. “We checked her over after that and she was fine, so hopefully we can go in the Cardinal and finish the year on a positive note.”    

MRS. REVERE DRAWS 40 NOMINATIONS – Nelson McMakin’s homebred Hot Cha Cha, winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (GI) at Keeneland, headlines a list of 40 nominations to the 19th running of the $175,000-added Mrs. Revere (GII).

The Mrs. Revere, won last year by Acoma, is for 3-year-old fillies and will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course on Nov. 14.

Hot Cha Cha is not the only Grade I winner nominated to the Mrs. Revere. Waratah Thoroughbreds’ Miss World, winner of the Garden City at Belmont Park in September, ran fourth behind Hot Cha Cha in the QE II.

Other graded-stakes winners on the turf nominated to the Mrs. Revere are Dell Ridge Farm’s Bluegrass Princess, who took a division of the Grade III Valley View at Keeneland; Barbara Hunter’s Keertana, winner of the Regret (GIII) here in June; and, Paul Pompa Jr.’s Mary’s Follies, winner of the Grade III Boiling Springs at Monmouth Park in June.

BARN TALK – Calvin Borel has picked up a second Breeders’ Cup mount according to agent Jerry Hissam. Borel will be reunited with Lets Go Stable’s Ready’s Echo for trainer Todd Pletcher for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (GI). Borel rode Ready’s Echo to a third-place finish in the seven-furlong Forego (GI) at Saratoga on Sept. 5. Borel’s other Breeders’ Cup mount is Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in the $5 million Classic.

Julien Leparoux, who is confirmed on nine Breeders’ Cup mounts, has picked up the mount on Glen Hill Farm’s No Inflation in the Oak Tree Derby (GII) for trainer Tom Proctor on Saturday at Santa Anita. Third in the Jefferson Cup (GII) at Churchill Downs in June, No Inflation won the Grade III Kent at Delaware Park by 6 ¼ lengths on Sept. 5.

WORK TAB – Warrior’s Reward, who ran fifth as the favorite in the Perryville (GIII) at Keeneland last month, worked a half-mile at Churchill Downs in :50.80 for trainer Ian Wilkes. … Two probable starters for Friday’s $100,000 Ack Ack (GIII), Riley Tucker and Que Paso, put in half-mile moves. Riley Tucker covered the distance in :50 for trainer Steve Asmussen and Que Paso was clocked in :51 for trainer Allen Milligan.