Red Giant, Tropic Storm out of Breeders’ Cup

Red Giant will go out a winner, having scored in the September 27 Clement Hirsch (Debra Kral/Horsephotos.com)

Grade 1 winner RED GIANT (Giant’s Causeway) and Grade 1-placed TROPIC
STORM (Stormy Atlantic) have been declared out of their respective Breeders’
Cup engagements, and Red Giant, winner of the Clement L.
Hirsch Turf Championship (G1) in his last start, has been retired.

“We came in this morning, and he didn’t quite clean up (his feed)
last night,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of the four-year-old Sunday
morning. “His temperature check was high (102 degrees), and it kind of
continued to get higher throughout the morning. The timing of it, six
days before the race, gave him no time to recover and no time to work.

“I talked to (owner) Mr. (John) Fort (who races as Peachtree Stable)
this morning,” Pletcher added. “He basically said he had planned on this
being Red Giant’s last race and to go ahead and try and make some stud
plans for him.”

Tropic Storm led nearly all the way in the Oak Tree Mile (Benoit Photo)

At Hollywood Park, trainer Craig Dollase said West Point Thoroughbreds’
Tropic Storm, whose first preference was the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) and
second was the Turf Sprint, had “a soft tissue injury.”

“We are in the process of looking at that right now,” Dollase said said when
asked how much time it might cost the four-year-old bay.

Tropic Storm was third most recently in the Oak Tree Mile (G2) on turf, and
has also run second in the Ack Ack H. (G3) and third in the Triple Bend
Invitational H. (G1) and Longacres Mile H. (G3) this year. So far, the
Florida-bred bay has posted a 13-4-3-4 record to go along with earnings of
$296,300 during his career.

In other Breeders’ Cup news:

Reigning Horse of the Year CURLIN (Smart Strike) galloped two miles on Santa
Anita’s Pro-Ride Sunday morning under exercise rider Carlos Rosas. Curlin is
scheduled to work Monday and will be going for a title defense in the Breeders’
Cup Classic (G1) next Saturday.

Unbeaten Japanese invader CASINO DRIVE (Mineshaft), who won his debut race at
Santa Anita last Sunday, galloped one lap around Hollywood Park’s 1 1/8-mile
Cushion Track Sunday and remains on course for the Classic, according to
Nobutaka Tada, racing manager for owner Hidetoshi Yamamoto.

“We’re very pleased with how he is doing,” Tada said of the Peter Pan S. (G2)
winner, who is scheduled to have a slow breeze at Hollywood on Wednesday.

Well Armed could get another shot at Curlin after running third to that rival in the Dubai World Cup (Charles Pravata/Horsephotos.com)

Trainer Eoin Harty said he “definitely concurred” with jockey Aaron Gryder’s
analysis that Goodwood S. (G1) hero WELL ARMED (Tiznow) is not “a pure speed
horse.

“I’ve worked him forever, too,” said Gryder, who’s been aboard Well Armed for
the five-year-old’s past eight races. “I’ve been getting on him a year and a
half, anyway. I’ve always said he doesn’t have to be in front to win. Everybody
thought he had to, but he’s a big, long-striding horse and has such a high gait
to him that he’s faster than most horses.

Harty said he would decide on Tuesday whether Well Armed runs in the Classic
or the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Trainer Richard Mandella has tabbed Chantal Sutherland to ride Canadian
invader MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone), winner of the Grey S. (Can-G3), in the
Juvenile.

Admission to Santa Anita Breeders’ Cup Friday and Saturday will be
available at the entrance gates. General admission is $20 per day and provides
access to the grandstand main floor, trackside apron, Paddock Gardens and
Infield. Club House admission is $50 per day and gives access to the Club House
main floor and the general admission areas. A limited number of reserved seats are available. Seats in sections L-V of
the grandstand are $200 and $400 each for the two days. Club House apron
reserved seats are $500 for two days.

Parking lots open at 7:30 a.m. (PDT) and
admission gates at 8 a.m. on Friday, and at 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m., respectively,
on Saturday. Overflow parking will be available on Saturday at the Los Angeles County
Arboretum, across
Baldwin Avenue
just north of Santa Anita, and the Arcadia County Park east of Santa Anita at
Huntington Drive
and
Santa Anita Avenue.

Free shuttle buses will run from the Metro Gold Line’s Sierra Madre Villa
station in east Pasadena on Friday starting at 8 a.m. and on Saturday at 7:30
a.m., leaving from berth #4. Shuttles returning from Santa Anita to the Gold
Line station begin both days at 1:30 p.m.