Epicenter Leads Breeders' Cup Workout Activity

Following a busy training morning Oct. 29 at Keeneland, the workout action quieted at the host site of the Breeders' Cup Oct. 30, with only four Breeders' Cup horses recording breezes, led by the division leader in the 3-year-old male ranks, Epicenter .

He and two other of Steve Asmussen's Breeders' Cup workers took the Lexington track shortly after 6:30 a.m. ET, early enough to still be under the early morning darkness but before rain was forecast to fall. All three had maintenance works ahead of their races for their Hall of Fame trainer. 

The Preakness Stakes (G1) and Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) runner-up, Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter, is set to race Nov. 5 in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) against an all-star field led by heavy favorite Flightline .

Epicenter, who picked up his first top-level stakes victory in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) in his last start Aug. 27, breezed four furlongs in :50 4/5. A moderate final half-mile workout before a race is standard for Asmussen, whose horses customarily complete their more serious drills two weeks to 10 days before their intended targets.

A final workout from 3-year-old @BreedersCup Classic contender EPICENTER, who worked an easy half mile in :50 4/5. pic.twitter.com/ZaYUVh1vp3

— TVG (@TVG) October 30, 2022

The 3-year-old Not This Time   colt has progressively matured through 2022.

"He's a beautiful horse, and I think there is a little bit more of him all the time," Asmussen said. "I think the concentration is on getting the best effort out of the horses that we have, and we've really focused on races from point A to point B. When they do their best and are in the best shape, we get the best outcome, which is our focus and the only thing we can control."

Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) contender Society  took a quick jog down the stretch before heading around to put in a half-mile in :49 3/5. The chestnut Gun Runner   filly floated across the Keeneland main track, making a seamless transition ahead of her first test against older stakes females in the Nov. 5 Distaff. In her most recent start Sept. 24 at Parx Racing, the Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds-owned 3-year-old filly captured the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion Stakes (G1), winning by 5 3/4 lengths under a frontrunning ride from Florent Geroux, ahead of Morning Matcha  and fellow Distaff contender Secret Oath .

"She works over this track beautifully; she is coming off of two very fast front-running victories," Asmussen said. "If the racetrack is tightened up and speed favoring, she will be extremely hard to reel in."

NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) pre-entrant Grand Love  similarly turned in a moderate, professional breeze with four furlongs in :50 1/5. The 2-year-old filly will make her third start in the Nov. 4 Juvenile Fillies, coming off a third-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile Pocahontas Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs Sept. 17. She set an easy pace but weakened in that race in her first route.

"I think Grand Love is an unbelievably talented, beautiful mover by Gun Runner," Asmussen said. "She has trained beautifully here at Keeneland and put in a wonderful work leading into the Juvenile Fillies. (She) got a lot out of her last race, I expected a little better, but with how the racetrack played, she got a little tired."

The Asmussen horses were not the only Breeders' Cup runners to work. Hronis Racing's Edgeway  was not initially slated to breeze Sunday, but due to the impending wet weather, trainer John Sadler chose to move up her workout. She breezed five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 under assistant trainer Juan Leyva, five days after an Oct. 25 workout at Keeneland.

EDGEWAY works @keenelandracing for the @BreedersCup Filly and Mare Sprint! @sadlerracing trains the swift filly, @JuanLeyva1984 up in the irons. pic.twitter.com/PrQuLnA8eh

— TVG (@TVG) October 30, 2022

"Very nice, well within herself. It was just a really nice work for her today," said Sadler, who watched her breeze from the frontside.

Edgeway follows a similar schedule heading into the Nov. 5 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) as she did last year, when she ran second behind champion Ce Ce  at Del Mar. Ce Ce is back for this year's race.

Over the past two years, Edgeway has won the Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3) at Del Mar during the summer in her final tune-ups. She won the 2021 Rancho Bernardo by a length and by a nose this year over Slammed , who won the Oct. 8 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) last out at Keeneland.

Watch: Sadler Talks Flightline Work, BC Runners Flightline, Bran

"She was flattered by how well (Slammed) ran at Keeneland because we looked pretty odds-on in the Rancho Bernardo, and the other filly gave us (a fight)—it was one of the better races run at Del Mar," Sadler said. "It was a stretch-long battle, and she prevailed.

"She's in good shape. She's once again in with Ce Ce. You have some new players in there. So it's a really good race, but if you look at her record, she's eight out of 13, twice she's missed a check, and she runs fresh."

Sadler also reported Sunday morning that stable star Flightline appeared to exit his Oct. 29 workout in good condition in preparation for the Classic. He is scheduled to jog Oct. 31.

In addition to Flightline and Edgeway, Sadler runs Bran  in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T). All three of Sadler's participants are in competition on the second day of the Breeders' Cup.