Trainer Walsh Hopes for Strong Showing From BC Trio

Conditioner Brendan Walsh will send out starters in three Breeders' Cup turf races Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland. And, while each horse is listed as a longshot on the morning-line odds, the Kentucky-based trainer sees reason for optimism for each.

On Friday Walsh will send out Qatar Racing, Fergus Galvin, and Marc Detampel's Reckoning Force  in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) off a seventh-place finish in the Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes (G2T) Oct. 9 at Keeneland. Before that race, the son of Air Force Blue  showed determination through the stretch to win the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile Stakes Sept. 14.

On Saturday, Cazadero , campaigned by Qatar Racing, Detampel, Galvin, and Barry Clohessy, enters the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) off a clear victory in the Nearctic Stakes (G2T) Oct. 8 at Woodbine. That win at six furlongs marked just the second turf try for the son of Street Sense   and first start in a stakes on the grass.

Also Saturday, Family Way  enters the Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) off a runner-up finish to Going to Vegas  (also entered in Saturday's 1 3/16-mile test) in the Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T) Oct. 8 at Santa Anita Park. Campaigned by Galvin's Hunter Valley Farm, Debra O'Connor, and Detampel, the 5-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo   always seems to be in the mix as she has finished second or third in her past five races—all graded stakes.

All three horses are listed at 20-1 for their various races but Walsh believes each has done enough to suggest they can compete.

Walsh liked the way Reckoning Force finished in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile and thought the son of Air Force Blue faced some tough racing luck in the Bourbon, where he was in tight at the start and bumped with a foe in the stretch. In his stakes win at Kentucky Downs, Reckoning Force closed the final quarter-mile in :23.93 on the course's uphill stretch.

"I think he's got the talent," Walsh said. "In the Bourbon he was just a little slow away and then there was a horse in front of him kind of the whole way around. Everywhere we went, we just got stopped. We tried to go inside and we got stopped. We tried to go outside and we kind of got stopped outside. It was just a disaster. 

"That's why we said we'd go ahead with the plan and give him another shot at it here. I think if he gets a good trip, I can't see him being too far away."

A glance at the past performances suggests Family Way typically finds a way. While her lone win this year came in the Orchid Stakes (G3T) in April at Gulfstream Park, racing exclusively in graded stakes she has hit the board in all seven of her starts. 

"She's done nothing wrong really," Walsh said. "All year she was a little unlucky. I thought the last race in the Rodeo Drive she got a little too far back but she did show us a nice turn of foot, which she had not really shown before. She has been knocking on the door all year so hopefully she gets a good trip and she shouldn't be too far away. 

"I mean, she's not been far away from any of these fillies all year. So I can't see why she would be this time. It was nice to see that turn of foot last time because there was probably not that much pace to run at and it shows that she's not just one dimensional. She's doing well."

With this year's trio, Walsh will nearly match the four Breeders' Cup starters he's had in previous editions of the World Championships, highlighted by a third-place finish by Worldly  in the 2013 Breeders' Cup Marathon (G2).