GO GIRLS

BREEDERS CUP 25 - DAY ONE
(Scratches as of this morning include Elusive Bluff out of the Juvenile, Indyanne out of Fily/Mare Sprint and possibly Mast Track out of Dirt Mile)



(The monster...ZENYATTA, the big favourite in the Ladies' Classic today, Cindy Pierson Dulay photo)



GOOD KARMA FOR ROSE, SEALY AND BEAR?

Sealy Hill to be bred to DISTORTED HUMOR in 2009

It is the last career start for Horse of the Year SEALY HILL today in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (read more on Patrick Husbands' take on the race in the Toronto Star column below)

(above right - PHOTO OF SEALY HILL yesterday taken by Todd Phillips)


Trainer MARK CASSE said yesterday that the filly is booked to supersire Distorted Humor for next spring.
Eugene Melnyk owns and bred the 4yo by Point Given.



'NO BID 'FILLY AT THE CUP TODAY

The Daily Racing Form had an extensive column on Van Lear Rose not getting a single bid at auction last year (last Sunday's DRF).

The Breeders' Cup notes team caught up with owner/breeder Richard Day and trainer Catherine Day Phillips:

Van Lear Rose, a Kingview Farms homebred, didn't get much attention when paraded around the ring at the CTS (Canadian Thoroughbred Sales) Select Sale as a yearling. "Not only did she not meet her reserve, she failed to get a single bid," trainer Catherine Day Phillips said. The daughter of Stroll, and granddaughter of Pulpit, was bred by Richard Day, the brother of the trainer, who chooses to sell his horses on the commercial market rather than keep them for racing. "To not get a single bid for her was devastating after you put so much into getting ready for a sale," he said. "It was demoralizing. But fate has a funny way of turning out." Once Van Lear Rose ended up with Day Phillips, she blossomed. "After six weeks, she was already grown up and filled out some," said Day Phillips, one of only two female trainers in this year's Breeders' Cup. Van Lear Rose, who convinced her connections she has the right to be here by winning the Mazarine Stakes at Woodbine last out, galloped 1m and stood at the gate in her final preparation before race day. "I don't know how to put into words how thrilled I am with her," Richard Day said. "It's very exciting to be at the Breeders' Cup with a horse I bred who is trained by my sister. I'm riding the wave of excitement." The brother and sister are the children of trainer Jim Day, a member of the Canadian Hall of Fame and multiple Sovereign Award winner who started 14 horses in the Breeders' Cup and won the 1991 Distaff with Dance Smartly. Van Lear Rose is the second starter for Catherine Day Phillips, who finished 13th with A Bit O' Gold in the 2005 Classic.

(Van Lear Rose at Santa Anita, photo by Todd Phillips)


More notes:


Bear Now (Tr: Reade Baker; ex. rider: Cassie Garcea ) – Bear Now, the star of Danny Dion's Bear Stables, will be trying the $2 million Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic for the second time in two years and trainer Reade Baker expects her to fare much better than her eighth place finish in the Monmouth Park slop in 2007. "Hopefully, she won't bleed this year," the conditioner said, explaining why she was beaten by more than 20 lengths behind Ginger Punch and Hystericalady, both of which are back again this year. "She's coming up to the race the best she can be," Baker said.



CANADIAN PRESS FEATURE TODAY... C KARMA

Filly beats all odds to run in Breeders'
Fri, October 24, 2008

By THE THE CANADIAN PRESS

ARCADIA, CALIF. -- C Karma shouldn't be here.

The two-year-old dark bay filly trained by Woodbine-based Greg DeGannes, will run in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies turf race this afternoon at Santa Anita Park. But merely getting to the starter's gate is a moral victory for the horse, rated 8-1 in the morning line.

"She has the mind of a five-year-old and is just so athletic," DeGannes said. "That's the only way she's made it.

"But you would never know that with her knee."

In July 2007 as a yearling, C Karma shredded the skin off her left knee, rendering her immobile for three months. She sustained the injury running around the paddock on the farm of Ocala, Fla., owner-breeder Pam Edel with other yearlings before breaking through the gate and running through nearby fields.


C Karma's racing career, it seemed, was over before it even started. Two attempts to suture the wound were unsuccessful. Only stall rest would allow the knee to heal, if only halfway.

Trouble is, most young horses aren't used to being confined to a stall. But on her first day out, C Karma came out charging, as if announcing to all she was indeed back.

Still, her handlers didn't allow C Karma to run. She was eventually prepared for riding in January 2008 but with no thought for racing. However, she not only started getting stronger but also was learning her lessons quickly and well.

Remarkably, mere months after gashing her knee, C Karma was sent to DeGannes at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack the first week of May.

Amazingly, she made her racing debut June 21, finishing third in a maiden allowance race at Woodbine. It was a shining moment because it became evident her racing career wasn't over after all.

"She was the only one who was injured in that paddock incident," DeGannes said. "She just didn't stop in time as young horses are apt to do."

She followed up with a second-place finish in her second start before recording her first win Aug. 2 on Woodbine's polytrack. Two weeks later, she was third in the Ontario Debutante Stakes.


TORONTO STAR FEATURE ON SEALY HILL/PAT HUSBANDS


http://www.thestar.com/Sports/HorseRacing/article/523561





COMING UP...RAINY WEEKEND AT WOODBINE..
SKY CLASSIC STAKES JUMBLE

Saturday's SKY CLASSIC STAKES at Woodbine hasa bizarre little history.

The race was actually begun as an overenight event worth $46,000 in 1995.It was won by Mak'n It Happen.

Somewhere between then and now, the race name was given to the JOCKEY CLUB CUP, which wasan old,old turf stake, won in 1995 by Jet Freighter.
Now it appears that the Jockey Club Cup and the Sky Classic have been squished into one race for the history books - since it says in the lines that it is the 97th running.
Actually - it's the 13th running on Saturday.

SUNDAY - CUP & SAUCER, 10 MAIDENS, 2 WINNERS

Canadian bred 2-year-olds will be on soggy grass on Sunday in the prestigious Cup & Saucer Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.

The race drew a mishmash of youngsters, most of which have not won a race.

Ten of the 12 entered are maidens and 2 of the 12 are fillies.
The two fillies look like the best runners - stakes placed Freyga is a maiden but has been supplemented by Eaton Hall Farm and trainer Mike Doyle while first time starter Queen of the Rings goes for Sam-Son Farm.


SATURDAY IS DAY 2 OF BREEDERS' CUP

ANDY BEYER PICKS GRAND ADVENTURE FOR SAM-SON

excerpt from the Washington Post today..

Juvenile Turf: On paper, the top North American entrants look evenly matched. Bittel Road beat Skipadate in a photo finish at Saratoga, then came out of that race to win a Grade II stakes at Keeneland. Skipadate went to Woodbine and lost a photo finish in a stakes race to Grand Adventure. In that Woodbine race, however, Grand Adventure made a strong five-wide move to prevail, even though Skipadate had an easy ground-saving trip. He was clearly better than Skipadate, and is clearly better than most of his rivals Saturday, though it is uncertain how he compares with the stakes-winning Irish invader Westphalia. I'll bet Grand Adventure to win and box him in the exacta with Westphalia. I will also play this race to kick off a pick four that may end with Curlin's loss in the Classic.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102303597.html


(right - HALFWAY TO HEAVEN, f & m Turf, begins the Cup runs for trainer Aidan O'Brien, whgo seems to have a loaded hand. The trainer has 21 Grade 1 wins this year, Cindy Pierson Dulay photo)



WOODBINE AND THE BREEDERS' CUP

The Breeders' Cup link on the Woodbine site has a handful of video interviews from the week..
Advance wagering is available today on TOMORROW'S RACES
also..11 a.m. tomorrow is a handicapping seminar at the track on the Breeders' Cup.

http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/BreedersCup/




Alysheba moving from Saudi Arabia to Lexington

From AP and special dispatches • October 24, 2008

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- America's horse is returning to America.


Former Kentucky Derby winner Alysheba, now 24, is returning to his native Kentucky after eight years in Saudi Arabia.

The Kentucky Horse Park said in a release yesterday that one of the most decorated thoroughbreds of all time will live in a stall at the Lexington park formerly occupied by the late John Henry.

Alysheba's transfer is a gift to the American people from Saudi King Abdullah. Raised in Versailles, the horse is to be honored at a welcome-home ceremony Oct. 31.

Among the career highlights for the former Horse of the Year are victories in the 1987 Derby and Preakness and 1988 Breeders' Cup Classic.