Richard’s Kid scratched from Breeders’ Cup Classic
At a time when just about everyone else is trying to find a horse good enough to take to Churchill Downs next month for the Breeders’ Cup, one man has decided to go the other way.
In fact all the way to Dubai.
Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed al-Maktoum, owner of Richard’s Kid, has elected not to let his horse take his chance in the $5million Breeders’ Cup Classic on November 6th. Instead he will be sent to Dubai as part of his preparation for next year’s Dubai World Cup at Meydan.
Richard’s Kid was coming into the Classic as the winner of the Grade One Pacific Classic and Goodwood Stakes on his last two starts and his trainer, Bob Baffert, was still working the horse on the morning that he was told of the decision. Speaking to the Daily Racing Form, Baffert said: “He wants him home. He wants to get him ready for the winter. I got the word today. He’s going to go into quarantine this week.
“They’re passing up a chance to be champion older horse and maybe Horse of the Year.”
Last year Baffert won the Grade Two San Antonio Handicap, at Santa Anita, in February before Richard’s Kid was shipped to Dubai where he finished two-and-a-quarter lengths seventh to Gloria de Campeao.
For most barns the news would have been a grievous loss but Baffert could console himself with watching the work of his star three-year-old Lookin At Lucky, who worked over five furlongs, ridden by regular jockey Martin Garcia.
Lookin At Lucky's Grade One victories, in the Preakness Stakes and Haskell Invitational, puts him in a now seemingly impregnable position as all the credible opposition has fallen by the wayside. First Drosselmeyer, the Belmont Stakes winner, was sidelined with an ankle injury and then Super Saver, the Kentucky Derby winner who had flopped in three runs since, was found to have sustained bone bruises in all four legs. Then a month ago Afleet Express was found to have a slight tear of the suspensory ligament in the colt’s near-fore, not enough to be career-ending but enough to call time and tear up the plans for this year.
If nothing else, Lookin At Lucky has managed to stay at the top longer than the rest of them.
Lookin At Lucky has been the horse on a roll ever since his nightmare trip behind Super Saver in the Kentucky Derby, with victories in both the Preakness at Pimlico in May and Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park in August putting him in pole position to be acclaimed as champion three-year-old colt. And Baffert believes that he is getting Lookin At Lucky to a peak after his winning prep run in the Grade Two Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park three weeks ago.
“He came out of it better than he went in it,” Baffert said. “He’s getting stronger and stronger. He’ll have to run better than he ever has.”
That may be just as well because this year’s Classic is one that will live up to its name and Zenyatta, the unbeaten defending champion, was also working at Hollywood. “This Classic will be the biggest and most historic because of the mare,” Baffert said. ”Can history be made? Can she compete against the best on dirt?”
The chances of Workforce making history, by adding a victory in the Breeders’ Cup to those in the Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has still to be decided.
The colt’s owner Prince Khalid Abdullah is enjoying a stellar season, with the Group One victories of Frankel (in the Dewhurst Stakes) and Twice Over (in the Champion Stakes) taking his Group or Grade one total to 16, two short of his personal record set in 2003.
Midday, trained - like Frankel and Twice Over – by Henry Cecil, is on course to defend her crown in the Filly & Mare Turf and Proviso, who has come back to her best for Bill Mott, will be running in the Mile.
A decision about whether Workforce will join them will not be made until Saturday at the earliest when Sir Michael Stoute will work him.
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