Sierra Leone breezes for G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic

• Sierra Leone breezes for G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic
• Scottish Lassie works for G1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff
• Maryland-bred Cavalier Cupid ships in for Autumn Days

The reigning Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic-winner Sierra Leone breezed a half-mile in 49.08 seconds on Saturday over the Oklahoma dirt training track at Saratoga Race Course in preparation for his title defense in that same $7 million race on November 1 at Del Mar.

Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, the 4-year-old Gun Runner dark bay worked to the inside of the maiden Duration after the first renovation break on the track rated fast.

“He worked super,” said Brown. “He has been very consistent with the way he’s been working. He’s been galloping out a strong three-quarters every week and I love the way he is moving.”

Sierra Leone put his neck in front of his workmate at the wire and galloped out several lengths in front down the backside.

“He’s been doing that every week actually: big, strong gallop-outs starting at the half-mile,” Brown said. “That is what I like for him and he is doing it as good as a horse could do it.”

The reigning Grade 1 Whitney-winner Sierra Leone has never missed the board in 13 career starts, banking over $7 million through a 13-5-5-3 record. In his most recent outing, Sierra Leone finished second to Antiquarian after having to alter course around a fallen jockey within the first sixteenth of the 10-furlong Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on August 31 at the Spa.

Brown indicated he is not certain if Jockey Club Gold Cup pacesetter Contrary Thinking will enter the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Contrary Thinking worked a half-mile in 49.47 Saturday over the Belmont Park dirt training track.

“I’m not sure, yet. I’ll have to have a call Monday about that,” Brown said.

Sierra Leone is campaigned by Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith. Coolmore America announced earlier this month that Sierra Leone would take up stud duties at Ashford Stud in 2026 following his final start in the Classic.

Flanagan Racing’s Chancer McPatrick also worked over the Oklahoma dirt training track, covering a solo half-mile in 49.34 following the second renovation break as he prepares for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar.

“Good, we worked him alone,” Brown said of the work. “He seems to be a little bit happier by himself lately, so we did that. He is very happy. That’s the key with him and he looks as good as he’s ever looked physically. It is a tough race, he is going to need a good pace set up in that race. That’s a quick mile at Del Mar, but I love the way he is coming into it.

“The biggest positive about him is that I’ve never seen him look better physically,” Brown continued. “He’s carrying the most weight he’s ever carried, his coat is shining and he is very, very happy right now.”

The sophomore McKinzie bay captured a pair of Grade 1s on the NYRA-circuit last year, including the one-mile Champagne and seven-furlong Hopeful, among a four-start campaign. This year, Chancer McPatrick has posted a 5-1-1-0 record with a win in the nine-furlong restricted Listed Curlin presented by Casamigos on July 24 at Saratoga.

“My hope is that this horse is circling back into his fall form of last year when he won the Champagne, which was a great race,” Brown said. “It could very well be that way.”

Chancer McPatrick’s most recent outing was a fourth in the seven-furlong Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 23 at the Spa, beaten 3 1/2 lengths by the victorious Patch Adams, who was recently reported to have retired due to injury.

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Scottish Lassie works for G1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff

Dual Grade 1-winner Scottish Lassie posted a five-furlong work on Saturday over the Belmont Park training track, with NYRA clockers catching her covering the distance in 59 seconds flat in company with dual graded stakes-placed Nelson Avenue.

Trained by Jorge Abreu, the sophomore daughter of McKinzie is preparing for a start in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff on November 1 at Del Mar, where she finished fourth in last year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to cap a campaign that saw her graduate in style in the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont at the Big A. She notched her second top-level victory this year with a 15 1/2-length trouncing of the Coaching Club American Oaks in July at Saratoga Race Course, and enters from a fourth in Parx Racing’s Grade 1 Cotillion on September 20.

Abreu said he was happy with what he saw from Scottish Lassie, who breezed with Manny Franco in the irons.

“She had a very good work. Manny was pretty pleased and said she handled everything so easy and handy – he didn’t have to ask her to do anything,” Abreu said. “I had them in 59, 1:12, 1:24. I think that’s a pretty good breeze.”

Campaigned by Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Stable, Photos Finish, Corms Racing Stable and Abreu, Scottish Lassie finished 2 1/4 lengths back of the tightly-bunched top trio of Clicquot, Dry Powder and Ourdaydreaminggirl in the Cotillion. In the Distaff, she is likely to face a field that includes the top two finishers from the Cotillion, as well as Grade 1-winners Nitrogen and Dorth Vader, among others.

Abreu said he is looking forward to seeing Scottish Lassie take on the prestigious nine-furlong route.

“She came out of her last race in good shape and has been training well, and it looked like she kept her weight,” Abreu said. “Everything is going good so far. I feel good. She’s been over the track already and she looks like she’s 100 percent right now.”

Abreu added that Scottish Lassie is slated to work a half-mile next Saturday at Belmont before shipping to California on October 26. 

Also on the Saturday tab at Belmont for Abreu was stakes-winning New York-bred Kay Cup, who NYRA clockers caught covering five furlongs in 1:02.25 in company with Ah Ca Ira. Kay Cup is targeting next Saturday’s state-bred $250,000 Empire Distaff, a nine-furlong route for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up that is part of the annual Empire Showcase Day card.

The card is highlighted by two nine-furlong events for 3-year-olds and up worth $250,000 in the Empire Classic and its counterpart, the Empire Distaff. Empire Showcase Day will also include seven $200,000 stakes in the Sleepy Hollow, Maid of the Mist, Mohawk, Ticonderoga, Iroquois, Hudson and the inaugural running of the New York Turf Sprint Championship at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up.

“Kay Cup breezed very well,” Abreu said. “She went with Ah Ca Ira, who might run in that race, too.”

The sophomore Instagrand dark bay, owned by NY Final Furlong Racing Stable, Electric City Racing and Sportsmen Stable, was last seen finishing a 1 1/4-length second to Vehemente in the state-bred Fleet Indian on August 21 at the Spa, where she won the seven-furlong Bouwerie earlier this summer. She returns to the track that saw her graduate by 4 1/4 lengths at second asking in an April state-bred maiden.

Abreu’s other runners on Empire Showcase Day include Chris Larsen’s multiple stakes-winner Moonage Daydream, who looks to make a successful title defense in the $200,000 Ticonderoga for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up traveling 1 1/16-miles on the turf. She won last year’s edition by a half-length over Collaboration.

The daughter of Candy Ride breezed a half-mile in 50 seconds flat on Saturday in her second work since finishing fifth in the Listed Athenia on September 14 here. She entered the Athenia from a half-length second to Awesome Czech in the state-bred Yaddo on August 22 at the Spa in what was her first start off a nearly 10-month layoff.

“She just breezed in 50 and galloped out in 1:02, and she looked pretty good,” Abreu said. “I babied her after the first race back when she finished second, and I didn’t breeze her for the second race [Athenia]. I think right now she’s where I want her to be.”

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Maryland-bred Cavalier Cupid ships in for Autumn Days

Big Lick Farm’s Maryland homebred Cavalier Cupid will look to earn black type in her New York debut in Sunday’s $150,000 Autumn Days, a six-furlong outer turf sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Belmont at the Big A. 

Big Lick Farm is the nom de course of the husband and wife team of Reid Nagle and trainer Sarah Nagle. Reid Nagle acquired Oak Ridge Training Center, located in Morriston, Florida, in 2010 and established their Big Lick Stall Rental – a sprawling 220 acre property located 30 minutes from Ocala.

“His vision was to create a Fair Hill for Ocala,” Sarah Nagle said. “We put in an AquaCiser a few years ago and we have 12 Eurocizers - a lot of really nice jogging wheels. We've tried to create a nice environment for trainers that want to stay on the farm but like to have all the bells and whistles, too. We have a cold water spa and a lot of Vitafloors. It's a nice place to be a horse, I think.”

Cavalier Cupid [post 10, Jaime Rodriguez] is a 20-1 longshot in Sunday’s loaded edition of the Autumn Days that features graded stakes-winners Danse Macabre [post 4, Joel Rosario, 4-1 ML] and Toupie [post 9, Flavien Prat, 5-2 ML].

However, the 6-year-old Quality Road mare has improved markedly over the course of her campaign, entering from a 3 1/2-length optional-claiming score on September 4 at Colonial Downs that registered a career-best 86 Beyer Speed Figure. There, she was sixth-of-7 early over the firm footing and saving ground behind a wall of rivals through a half-mile in 44.24 seconds. She bravely found a seam once straightened away for the stretch run and powered clear to a comfortable score in a final time of 1:01.73 for 5 1/2-furlongs.

Sunday’s test will mark the sixth start of her campaign – the most in any single season after racing just twice in 2022 and not at all in 2023, before making four starts last year.

"We've always had high hopes for her," Nagle said. "She's had lots of little issues along the way, and we talked about if we should retire her last fall and we decided she deserves another year to try. We're very happy that we brought her back this year. She seems to be at the top of her game right now."

Cavalier Cupid utilized more prominent stalking tactics early in her career but has relished racing from further off the pace this year.

"We're excited to try the three-quarters tomorrow. It does seem as she's matured that she seems to be changing her style," Nagle said. "We'll see where she wants to be when the gates open, but I would assume she won't be right on top of it."

A top-three finish would be important for Cavalier Cupid in her next career as a broodmare. She is out of the winning Big Brown mare El Vedado, who the Nagle’s claimed for $35,000 in April 2016 at Gulfstream Park. El Vedado’s half-brother Curlin’s Honor would sell for $475,000 that July at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale and subsequently was purchased for $1.5 million at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

“We claimed her [El Vedado] because she looked like a good grass horse and my husband is obsessed with grass horses. After we claimed her, Curlin's Honor went through the ring and we started getting a lot of calls about her,” Nagle said.

El Vedado finished up her career in protected spots and was sent to well-regarded stallion Quality Road, who currently stands in Kentucky for a fee of $200,000 at the Farish family’s Lane’s End Farm. The resulting foal, Cavalier Cupid, has now banked $212,390 via a 15-4-2-0 record.

“That was swinging for the fences,” Nagle said of the mating. “My husband's daughter is good friends with Lulu Farish and this horse's barn name is ‘Lulu’ because that was our first time going to Quality Road at Lane's End.”

The Nagle family have been patient with their well-loved mare and are hopeful that Sunday’s test will result in winning black type.

“We’ll see what happens. We're 20-1, but she doesn't know that,” said Nagle, with a laugh.

The Autumn Days is slated as Race 9 on Sunday’s nine-race card which also features the Listed $150,000 Noble Damsel in Race 7 and the rescheduled $150,000 Carle Place in Race 6. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.