Pure Clan, Capt. Candyman Can Work Toward Breeders' Cup Runs … Denis of Cork Finally Back in Carroll's Care

Nov 01, 2009 Gary Yunt

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.