Keeneland Barn Notes — Sunday, Oct. 22

By Amy Owens —-

Keeneland’s 17-day Fall Meet concludes Saturday, Oct. 28. The final week of racing
begins Wednesday. Post time for the first race each day is 1:05 p.m. ET.
**********

· LYNCH TURF DUO WORKS TOWARD BREEDERS’ CUP STARTS
· FIRST LADY WINNER ZIPESSA BEGINS DEL MAR PREPARATIONS ON TRAINING TRACK
· CALIFORNIA GIRLS GO SEPARATE WAYS AFTER 1-2 LEXUS RAVEN RUN FINISH
· GALLOPING OUT
· BREEDERS’ CUP CONTENDERS STABLED AT KEENELAND
· PROBABLE FIELD FOR CLOSING-DAY HAGYARD FAYETTE
· FALL MEET SPECIAL EVENTS
· FALL MEET LEADERS

LYNCH TURF DUO WORKS TOWARD BREEDERS’ CUP STARTS
Trainer Brian Lynch put his two Breeders’ Cup grass hopefuls through half-mile works Sunday morning over a firm Keeneland turf course.
Working first with jockey Julien Leparoux aboard was Terry Hamilton’s Heart to Heart, who covered the distance in :49.20 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.20. (Click here for a video of the work.) Next up was Amerman Racing’s three-time Grade 1 winner Oscar Performance, who covered a half-mile in :51.40 and galloped out 5 furlongs in 1:03.80 under jockey Jose Ortiz. (Click here for a video of the work.)
Both runners are scheduled to fly to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Friday with half-mile works over the Del Mar turf course slated for next Sunday.
“Heart to Heart looked very comfortable,” Lynch said of the Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) runner-up, who was in his first breeze since the Oct. 7 race. Heart to Heart is being pointed to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) on Nov. 4.
“We put up the $160,000 (to make Heart to Heart Breeders’ Cup-eligible) and I can give you two million reasons why,” Lynch said. “Since his last race, he has been doing well and checked all the boxes. I think he will like the course out there with the tight turns and short stretch.”
Heart to Heart has been second in three Grade 1 races. A breakthrough in the Breeders’ Cup would likely send Lynch over the moon.
“I’d probably rip the top off the grandstand,” Lynch said with a laugh.
The work for Oscar Performance was his second here since finishing third in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1) on Sept. 30 in his first venture against older horses. He had worked a half-mile on the grass in :49.60 last Sunday.
“I thought he went great,” Lynch said about today’s move. “He built into it, picked it up nicely and had a nice gallop out.”
Oscar Performance won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) last year.

FIRST LADY WINNER ZIPESSA BEGINS DEL MAR
PREPARATIONS ON TRAINING TRACK
Empyrean Stables’ Zipessa, who earned a return trip to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) with a victory in the First Lady (G1) here Oct. 7, began her preparations for the Nov. 4 race at Del Mar with a half-mile breeze in :48.60 on Keeneland’s 5-furlong all-weather training track Saturday.
“She can get wound up and for her first work back I wanted to use the training track because it is nice and quiet,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “For her final work here next week, it will be on the turf.”
Zipessa, who is scheduled to ship to Del Mar on Oct. 30 for the 1 1/8-mile Breeders’ Cup race, had her two works prior to the First Lady over the all-weather Tapeta surface at Fair Hill training center in Maryland.
Fifth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup at 1¼ miles as a 53-1 shot at Santa Anita, Zipessa returns to a Del Mar surface on which she won an allowance race in 2015 and finished eighth in the Del Mar Oaks (G1) at 1 1/8 miles.
Stidham hopes to have a second Breeders’ Cup starter in Speedway Stable’s Moon Dash.
Second by a nose in the Surfer Girl on Oct. 9 at Santa Anita, Moon Dash worked a half-mile on the turf at Keeneland Sunday morning in :51.20 with jockey Florent Geroux aboard.
Moon Dash is expected to be pre-entered for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1), which is limited to 14 starters. The race might be oversubscribed at pre-entry, leaving the makeup of the field in the hands of a selection panel.

CALIFORNIA GIRLS GO SEPARATE WAYS
AFTER 1-2 LEXUS RAVEN RUN FINISH
Alan Klein and Phil Lebherz’s homebred Miss Sunset was headed back to California after her half-length victory over Californian Chalon in Saturday’s $250,000 Lexus Raven Run (G2) at 7 furlongs on the main track.
“She came out of the race very well and cooled out fine,” trainer Jeff Bonde said of Miss Sunset, who picked up her first graded stakes victory. “This filly is always competitive and she has learned to rate the last two times and has gotten better.”
Breaking from the outside post position 11, Miss Sunset rated just off the pace set by Chalon and eventually wore her down in deep stretch.
“The race could not have unfolded any prettier,” said Bonde, who collected his first Keeneland stakes victory.
As for what’s next, Bonde said, “I have a standard statement. I am going to sleep on it, think about it for two or three days and then make a plan.”
Rockingham Ranch’s Chalon was headed for a short trip to nearby Taylor Made Farm, according to trainer Peter Miller.
“She is going to get a short break,” Miller said from his Southern California base Sunday morning. “I am very proud of her and she ran great both times there. It was just a little too far yesterday.”
Chalon finished second two weeks ago in the 6-furlong Thoroughbred Club of America (G2).
“She had a two-race plan when we shipped her there,” Miller said of Chalon, who was stabled in the Mark Casse barn. “She made $100,000 and was Grade 2-placed twice.”
Westrock Stables’ Torrent and Dorothy Alexander Matz’s Tequilita, the respective third- and fourth-place finishers in the race, were both in good order this morning. Torrent returned to trainer Ron Moquett’s base at Churchill Downs, and she will prepare for an anticipated start in the La Brea (G1) Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.
Tequilita, trained by Michael Matz, will ship to Florida and take the rest of the year off.
GALLOPING OUT
Charles E. Fipke’s homebred Seeking the Soul lowered the 1 1/16-mile track record when he won Saturday’s third race in 1:41.36. Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr. for trainer Dallas Stewart, the 4-uear-old son of Perfect Soul (IRE) won the race by nine lengths. His time was 98/100ths of a second faster than the previous mark set by Tale of Life (JPN) on April 20, 2016.

BREEDERS’ CUP CONTENDERS STABLED AT KEENELAND
Keeneland is home to several potential contenders for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar on Nov. 3-4.
Pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup will be announced Wednesday, Oct. 25.

Here are the trainers and their possible Breeders’ Cup runners:

Trainer (Barn)
Horse
Breeders’ Cup Race
Last Race
Most Recent Work Since Last Race

To CA
Charlie Appleby (quarantine)
Wuheida (GB)
Filly and Mare Turf
4th 10/1 Prix de l’Opera (G1) @Chantilly (scratched from 10/14 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End (G1) @KEE

10/25
Rusty Arnold (60)
Romantic Vision
Distaff
Won 10/8 Juddmonte Spinster (G1) @KEE

10/27
Chad Brown (30)
Rushing Fall
Juvenile Fillies Turf
Won 10/11 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G3) @KEE

10/30
Mark Casse (37-38)
Flameaway
Juvenile Turf
Won 10/8 Dixiana Bourbon (G3) @KEE
10/20 @KEE: 5f in 1:00
10/30

Heavenly Love
Juvenile Fillies
Won 10/6 Darley Alcibiades (G1) @KEE
10/20 @KEE: 5f in 1:00
10/30

Brian Lynch (40)
Heart to Heart
Mile
2nd 10/7 Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) @KEE
10/22 @KEE: 4f (turf) in :49.20
10/27

Oscar Performance
Turf
3rd 9/30 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1) @BEL
10/22 @KEE: 4f (turf) in :51.40
10/27

Kenny McPeek (70)
Princess Warrior
Juvenile Fillies
2nd 10/6 Darley Alcibiades (G1) @KEE
10/21 @KEE:
4f in :48.60
10/24

Todd Pletcher (27)
Stainless
Juvenile Fillies Turf/Juvenile Fillies
2nd 10/11 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G3) @KEE

10/30
Mike Stidham (2)
Moon Dash
Juvenile Fillies Turf
2nd 10/9 Surfer Girl Stakes @SA
10/22 @KEE:
4f in :51.20
10/30

Zipessa
Filly and Mare Turf
Won 10/7 First Lady (G1) @KEE
10/21 @KEE: 4f (all-weather training)
in :48.60
10/30

Roger Varian (quarantine)
Nezwaah (GB)
Turf/Filly and Mare Turf
5th in 10/15 E.P. Taylor (G1) @WO

10/25

PROBABLE FIELD FOR CLOSING-DAY HAGYARD FAYETTE
$200,000 HAGYARD FAYETTE (G2) (Entries taken Wednesday; race Saturday) – Eagle (trainer Neil Howard), Giuseppe the Great (Nick Zito), Honorable Duty (Brendan Walsh), McCraken (Ian Wilkes), Neolithic (Todd Pletcher), Texas Chrome (Allen Milligan) and The Player (Buff Bradley).

FALL MEET SPECIAL EVENTS
Sunday, Oct. 22
Heroes Day Delivered by Papa John’s – Keeneland recognizes the men and women who serve our community. All military (active duty and veterans), first responders – law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs – and their families will receive free general admission and access to reserved Grandstand seating. Free food, children’s activities and more will be offered in the North Terrace from Noon-4 p.m. ET. The American flag will be unfurled on the main track at 2:12 p.m. after the Race 3 Winner’s Circle presentation.

FALL MEET LEADERS
Through Oct. 21 (12 days of racing)
Jockey
Starts
Wins
2nd
3rd
Purses

Julien Leparoux
63
13
8
5
$1,173,824
Robby Albarado
69
11
7
11
$890,967
Florent Geroux
61
11
7
10
$866,607
Ricardo Santana Jr.
54
10
5
3
$435,016
Jose Ortiz
29
8
5
4
$367,943

Trainer
Starts
Wins
2nd
3rd
Purses

Mike Maker
43
10
4
3
$412,621
Mark Casse
27
6
7
2
$958,750
Steve Asmussen
24
5
4
1
$305,428
Rusty Arnold
14
4
1
3
$488,718
Kenny McPeek
34
4
6
6
$427,169
Dale Romans
11
4
1
3
$451,450
Wesley Ward
25
4
4
1
$141,277

Owner
Wins

G. Watts Humphrey Jr.
4*
John C. Oxley
4
Kenneth L. and Sarah K. Ramsey
4
Breeze Easy (Mike Hall)
2*
Charles E. Fipke
2
L. William and Corinne Heiligbrodt
2
Jay Em Ess Stable (Samantha Siegel)
2
Maxis Stable (Sidney Karmia)
2*
Three Diamonds Farm (Kirk Wycoff)
2
*includes partnerships
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